Vladimir Putin asked his former deputy leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary company Wagner who fell out of favor with the Russian president and was killed when his plane crashed in late August; to train volunteers to fight in Ukraine.

“During our meeting, we mentioned the fact that you will participate in the training of volunteer units that will be able to carry out various combat missions, mainly, of course, in the zone of the ‘special military operation'” in Ukraine, Putin said yesterday, Thursday , addressing Andrey Troshev, refers to a Kremlin statement released today.

According to Vladimir Putin, Troshev, who is known by the nickname “Sendoi” (gray-haired in Russian) and was a very close associate of Prigozhin at Wagner, has the experience to carry out such a mission, three months after the failed mercenary mutiny in Russia.

A retired colonel, he is often described as one of Wagner’s founders and is subject to European sanctions for his “direct involvement in the organization’s military operations (…) in Syria,” according to an EU document from late 2021.

“You know the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work is carried out in the best way and with the greatest possible success,” the Russian president also told the former military man.

The Russian president also expressed his satisfaction that Troshev “has (good) relations with (his) comrades in arms.”

Putin’s request, formalized in the presence of Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Efkurov, shows an even greater integration of former Wagner fighters into the Russian military.

Troshev “has already worked in the Ministry of Defense,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed to Russian news agency Ria Novosti shortly after.

In late June, after Wagner’s aborted mutiny, the Kremlin gave the mercenary group’s fighters three options: integrate into the Russian military, return to civilian life or flee into exile in Belarus, Moscow’s ally in its offensive in Ukraine .

However, it was the death of their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in late August when his plane crashed on a flight between Moscow and St. Petersburg, along with several members of his inner circle, that marked the end of Wagner as it was known. until then.