Yevgeny Prigozhin has held talks with Vladimir Putin to discuss the armed mutiny staged by his Wagner group of mercenaries.
The Kremlin meeting was confirmed by Mr Putin’s spokesman after it was reported Mr Prigozhin had met the Russian President, as well as the head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov and SVR Foreign Intelligence boss Sergei Naryshkin.
The was held on June 29, five days after Mr Prigozhin led the Wagner Group of mercenaries in an aborted mutiny, which is widely regarded to have posed the most serious challenge to Mr Putin since he came to power on the last day of 1999, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Mr Peskov said Mr Putin had invited 35 people to three-hour meeting, including Mr Prigozhin and Wagner unit commanders.
"The only thing we can say is that the President gave his assessment of the company's [Wagner's] actions at the front during the special military operation [in Ukraine] and also gave his assessment of the events of June 24 [the day of the mutiny]," Mr Peskov said.
He said Mr Putin had listened to the commanders' explanations of what had happened and offered them further options for employment and combat.
"The commanders outlined their version of what happened," said Mr Peskov.
"They emphasised that they are staunch supporters and soldiers of the head of state and the supreme commander-in-chief. They also said they are ready to continue fighting for the motherland."
The confirmation of a face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin, who has branded Mr Prigozhin as a back-stabbing traitor, adds a new twist to the uncertainty surrounding the mercenary chief.
His fate and whereabouts have been unknown since the attempted mutiny, which severely weakened Mr Putin's authority.
Mr Prigozhin was allowed to leave Russia for Belarus after the failed rebellion, following negotiations involving Mr Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
However, Mr Lukashenko said the Wagner leader was in Russia, not Belarus.
The brief mutiny led by Mr Prigozhin, in which Wagner fighters took control of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and a military headquarters, was defused in a deal brokered by Mr Lukashenko.
Mr Putin, who likened the events to the turmoil which engulfed Russia in the run-up to the 1917 Revolution, has since thanked his army and security services for averting chaos and civil war.
Mr Prigozhin has said the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the government but at "bringing to justice" the army and defence chiefs for what he called blunders and unprofessional actions in Ukraine.
Mr Putin has so far kept Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in place, judging by appearances by both men on state TV – rejecting Mr Prigozhin's appeals to sack them.
Mr Prigozhin was meant to leave for Belarus under the terms of the deal that ended the mutiny. But Mr Lukashenko last week said Mr Prigozhin was back in Russia and that Wagner fighters had not yet taken up an offer to relocate to Belarus, raising questions about the implementation of the agreement.
