Russian President Vladimir Putin met with one of the former top commanders of the Wagner mercenary group, who the Kremlin said now works for the Defense Ministry.
Andrei Troshev is a former collaborator of the late Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in August.
His death occurred two months after Wagner’s brief march on Moscow.
The Kremlin said President Putin asked Mr. Troshev to supervise volunteer fighting units in Ukraine.
Speaking to Mr. Troshev, the president said he could “provide units capable of performing various combat missions, especially, of course, in the area of special military operations,” implying Ukraine only. Putin added: “You know the problems that need to be resolved first so that combat work can take place in the best and most successful way.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA news agency that Mr Troshev “is currently working in the Ministry of Defense”.
The meeting comes as Putin tries to reassert his power after the Wagner mutiny in June.
Within just 24 hours, Prigozhin organized an uprising, sending troops into the southern city of Rostov, then further toward Moscow before retreating. It is the biggest challenge to Putin’s power in the past two decades. Last month, the president called on all employees of Wagner and other Russian private military contractors to swear allegiance to the Russian state.
Natia Seskuria of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London, told the BBC that the meeting and public praise for Mr. Putin was an attempt to show “that he is in charge about the situation and he is in control of Prigozhin’s inner circle.”
“The fact that a Kremlin spokesman confirmed that Troshev worked for the Russian Ministry of Defense proves that we are in the post-Progozhin era, where the MOD has full control over so-called special military operations,” she said. in Ukraine”.
The Kremlin “will continue to rely on Wagner’s resources more cautiously,” she added.
Mr. Troshev is known by the pen name Sedoi, which means “white-haired man.” He is a respected veteran of Russia’s wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
He received the Hero of Russia award for his role in supporting government forces in Syria in 2015 and 2016 as Commander Wagner.
Prigozhin and nine other people died in an accident near Moscow on August 23.
Wagner’s boss was described by many as a “walking zombie” after the failed mutiny.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement. On Thursday, Moscow announced a 68% increase in its defense budget as the war in Ukraine continued.
The military budget will reach 10.8 trillion rubles (£90 billion) by 2024, or 6% of GDP.