Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying Andrei Troshev, a former leader of the Wagner Special Military Group, now works for the Russian Defense Ministry.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Trushev had discussed with the Russian president ways to use volunteer combat units in the Ukraine war.
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus Bey Yevkurov also attended the meeting.

Wagner fighters played an important role in Russia's capture of the eastern city of Bakhamut in May after one of the longest and fiercest battles of Moscow's 19-month war in Ukraine.

They left Bakhamut after the battle, some headed to Belarus under a deal that ended a brief Wagner insurgency in June, during which the group seized a Russian military headquarters and advanced on Moscow.

Since the killing of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on Aug. 23 when a private jet he was traveling in crashed in unclear circumstances, the Kremlin has sought to bring the group under stricter state control.

The circumstances of the crash of Prigozhin and some of his close associates have sparked speculation about the possibility of his assassination, as well as many accounts of the incident.

Observers considered the incident "revenge for President Vladimir Putin for himself" after the rebellion, led by Prigozhin at the end of June, which embarrassed the Russian leader, who was trying to tighten his grip on the army, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, according to "AFP".