Video Shows Putin Giving Orders to Prigozhin's 'Successor'

The Kremlin released a video on Friday showing Russian President Vladimir Putin giving orders to a former commander of the Wagner Group who has been touted as the "successor" to its late leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Putin met with Andrey Troshev and Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov on Thursday night, the Kremlin said on its website on Friday, releasing a short video clip and photos of their meeting. Troshev, who goes by the call sign "gray hair," was fired by the Wagner Group in July, shortly after Prigozhin led a failed uprising against the Kremlin's top brass on June 24.

Prigozhin was killed when a private jet he owned crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in Russia's Tver region.

Days after Prigozhin's mutiny attempt, Russian insider channels on Telegram circulated a document allegedly leaked by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) that suggested Troshev informed the Kremlin's top brass about the Wagner Group's plans.

The Wagner Group, which formerly provided fighters for hire, has effectively been absorbed into Russia's defense ministry. Russian daily newspaper Kommersant cited Putin as saying on June 29 that Wagner soldiers who signed contracts with the ministry would work under Troshev's leadership.

The Kremlin didn't state on Friday what Troshev's current position is, but press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said he now holds a position within Russia's defense ministry.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's defense ministry via email for comment.

In Putin's meeting with Troshev, the Russian leader said he wanted to talk "about issues of a social nature."

Putin said they had discussed "volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of the special military operation."

"You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year," Putin said. "You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way."

Troshev's remarks weren't shown in the video.

"You maintain relations with your comrades with whom you fought together, and now you continue to carry out these combat missions," Putin added.

Troshev was present at a meeting that was held with the former commanders of the Wagner Group after Prigozhin's "march of justice" toward Moscow in June.

Putin said after the meeting that "many participants in the meeting nodded" when he offered Wagner soldiers "several employment options," but Prigozhin said at the time that "the guys do not agree with this decision."

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