Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group has “largely fallen silent” following the failed coup in June as Vladimir Putin has become “unusually prominent,” the UK ministry of defence has said.
The rebel army’s troops were hurtling towards Moscow in an attempted mutiny, but the coup was called off at the 11th hour by the mercenary group leader.
Since then, Wagner has gone quiet while Kremlin has scrambled to redirect the narrative in Putin’s favour after Russian media was initially “not prepared” for the mutiny.
The defence intelligence said: “After the insurrection was defused, Russian state outlets sought to ‘correct’ claims that security forces had been passive.
“Narratives promoted the idea that President Vladimir Putin had triumphed by thwarting the insurrection, while avoiding bloodshed, and sought to unite the country behind the president.
“Nearly a week later, the state started to play down the significance of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the mutiny, while tarnishing his character.”
Elsewhere, Rishi Sunak made clear on Saturday that Britain “discourages” the use of cluster munitions after Joe Biden agreed to send the bombs to Ukraine to aid the fight against Russia.
