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'I'd be careful…': Joe Biden jokes about Wagner boss being poisoned by Putin
Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been publicly seen since leaving the Russian city of Rostov on June 24.
US president Joe Biden said he was unsure where Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was but joked that the mercenary boss could be poisoned. "If I were he, I’d be careful what I ate. I’d be keeping my eye on my menu," Joe Biden said, according to a White House transcript. Yevgeny Prigozhin has not been publicly seen since leaving the Russian city of Rostov on June 24.
“But all kidding aside...I don't think any of us know for sure what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia,” he said. This comes as details of Russian president Vladimir Putin's meeting with Wagner mercenaries emerged. The Russian leader had offered Wagner mercenaries the opportunity to keep fighting just days after their failed mutiny but suggested Yevgeny Prigozhin be moved aside in favour of a different commander, Kommersant newspaper reported.
The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin had held talks with Wagner commanders and Prigozhin at a meeting on June 29, five days after the mutiny where the mercenaries reaffirmed their loyalty to the Russian president.
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But Kommersant reported that Vladimir Putin said, "Wagner does not exist. There is no law on private military organisations. It just doesn't exist.”
The Kremlin explained the Russian president's comments saying that there was no legal entity named Wagner and the legal status of such companies was a complicated one. Vladimir Putin then suggested several options for them to continue fighting, it was reported.
“All of them could have gathered in one place and continued to serve. And nothing would have changed for them. They would have been led by the same person who had been their real commander all that time,” the Russian president said.
