On Tuesday, Putin announced that the Russian state, between May 2022 and May 2023, paid 86.26 billion rubles (equivalent to roughly 10.8 billion Swedish kronor) to the elite paramilitary force Wagner.
At the same time, the Russian president also said that Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, through his Konkord company, earned another 80 billion rubles by supplying the Russian army with food supplies.
– I hope that no one has stolen anything or at least not that much. We will look into it, Putin said.
The admission comes after Vladimir Putin for years denied any state collusion but the Wagner group, whose soldiers have been accused of several war crimes.
Watch the feature to learn how Putin’s rhetoric about Wagner has changed over the years.