Putin: PMC Wagner was fully funded by state budget

Vladimir Putin has stated that all expenses of mercenary group PMC Wagner were fully funded by the state, TASS reports: the Russian president has said so during a meeting with servicemen in the Kremlin.

Concord, the owner of the private military company, received a total of 80 billion rubles (€854.6 million) in the span of 12 months for catering services, Vladimir Putin claims.

Puin also stated that Russia’s budget has provided PMC Wagner with 86.3 billion rubles (€923 million) for fighters’ wages and incentive payments since May 2022.

“I hope nobody stole anything or at least not too much, but we’ll be looking into that,” the Russian president said of the PMC Wagner management.

People who served for PMC Wagner used to be respected in Russia, he added.

Vladimir Putin addressed servicemen of the Russian military in front of the Kremlin’s Palace of the Facets earlier today. “You virtually halted a civil war by acting firmly and seamlessly,” Putin said.

Yesterday, Putin addressed the nation, commenting on Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny attempt. He added that the Russian leadership had made “all the decisions to neutralise the threat, to protect the constitutional order and citizens’ safety”. According to Putin, “national traitors, Western foes, and Nazis” in Ukraine wanted the Russian society “to choke in a bloody feud”.