Prigozhin to be investigated after being paid $2 billion in a year - Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with service members at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, June 27, 2023. Sputnik/Mikhail Tereshchenko/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the finances of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's catering firm would be investigated after his mutiny, saying Wagner and its founder had received almost $2 billion from Russia in the past year.

Putin initially vowed to crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolutions of 1917 and then a civil war, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus.