Putin Reveals How Much Money the State Paid to Wagner

The state has fully supported the Wagner private military company, said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with defense ministry personnel, reports RIA Novosti.

"The entire support of the Wagner group has been carried out by the state, from the Ministry of Defense, we have fully financed that group from the state budget," said the Russian leader.

From May 2022 to May 2023, the authorities paid the private military company more than 86 billion rubles, noted the state leader. Moreover, during the year, the company’s owner, Concord, earned 80 billion rubles by supplying food to the army and providing food services through Voentorg.

"I hope no one has stolen anything or has stolen very little, but we will deal with all of that," Putin said, referring to the leadership of Wagner.

It is noteworthy that on Saturday night, fighters from the Wagner private military company seized the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don. This occurred against the backdrop of statements from Yevgeny Prigozhin, alleging that the Russian Armed Forces had launched missile strikes on Wagner’s camps.

A criminal case has been initiated against Prigozhin for organizing an armed rebellion. Russian President Vladimir Putin labeled the actions of the rebels as "a criminal adventure," "a knife to Russia's back," and "treason." Later, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko conducted agreed negotiations with Prigozhin, after which Lukashenko's press service announced that the company leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to halt the movement of Wagner in Russia and take further steps toward de-escalation.

The press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Prigozhin would travel to Belarus and the criminal case would be dropped, with the Kremlin assuring that the guarantee is the word of the Russian president.