Russian President Putin meets top Wagner commander, discusses Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday met one of the top former commanders of the Wagner mercenary group to discuss how best to use “volunteer units” in the Ukraine war.

The meeting underscored the Kremlin’s attempt to show that the state had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was then killed with other senior commanders in a plane crash in August. Putin was shown on state television meeting at the Kremlin with Andrei Troshev, a former Wagner commander known by his nom de guerre “Sedoi” - or “grey hair”.
 

The Kremlin said the meeting took place late on Thursday.
 

Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who has travelled over recent months to several countries where Wagner mercenaries have worked, was also present, sitting closest to Putin.

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how “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. He also said he wanted to speak about social support for those involved in the fighting.
 

Russia mulls fuel export quotas 

Russia may introduce quotas on overseas fuel exports if a complete export ban imposed last week does not succeed in bringing down persistently high gasoline and diesel prices, its Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. The government said in a statement late on Thursday that Novak told a meeting of senior managers at Russian oil companies that the ban on the export of gasoline and diesel had initially led to a fall in prices on the commodity exchange.