Vladimir Putin continued his livid assaults on the repute of the Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, claiming the warlord wasn't the actual commander of the militia.

His newest remarks comply with the discharge to social media of unflattering photographs, exhibiting Prigozhin sitting in his underpants on an unmade mattress in a big tent.

Data from the picture counsel it was taken on June 12, earlier than the warlord launched his short-lived mutiny.

The Kremlin has launched a large marketing campaign to discredit its former pin-up boy and switch the general public in opposition to him.

Putin's officers have been shocked to see the mutineer and his troops welcomed as heroes in Rostov-on-Don - a metropolis of simply over a million folks and the headquarters for the command of Russia's Southern Military District.

Wagner fighters captured the town with no shot fired in anger at first of their "march for justice".

Ever because the rebel ended, Putin, who disappeared from public view for big components of it, has been trying to reassert his authority, as he tries to cling on to energy.

He has sought to undermine Prigozhin's recognition and hero-status amongst Russians by a fastidiously orchestrated media marketing campaign.

In the newest assault, Putin advised the newspaper Kommersant that the actual army chief of Wagner was not his as soon as shut ally.

The Russian president stated he had met 35 Wagner commanders, together with Prigozhin, and supplied them the prospect to battle within the Russian military.

The assembly is alleged to have taken place on June 29, 5 days after the failed mutiny.

Putin stated: "They would all be able to stick together in one place and to continue their service. They will still be led by the same person who has been their real commander all this time."

The Kremlin tyrant named that "person" as Andrei Troshev, a former Russian military colonel.

Troshev fought in Afghanistan and Chechnya and led Wagner forces in Syria in 2016. He was beforehand named as an govt director of the militia.

He was awarded Russia's highest honorary title after capturing Palmyra from the so-called Islamic State in 2017.

Prigozhin's troops got here inside hours of reaching Moscow, assembly little or no resistance from Putin's safety forces alongside the way in which.

At the eleventh hour, the Wagner boss referred to as off his revolt and agreed to enter exile in Belarus following the intervention of Alexandr Lukashenko.

There have been no verified sightings of Prigozhin because the mutiny, with some suggesting he could already be lifeless.

The Kremlin has additionally begun to dismantle Prigozhin's enterprise empire, that he had constructed up over three many years.

His enterprise pursuits included corporations in media, logistics, mining, movie and catering.

Prigozhin's catering companies loved profitable contracts supplying meals to Russia's military and faculties.

In 2012, he acquired a contract to offer meals to the Russian army value US$1.2 billion (£916.6 million) over one yr.

Since the mutiny, the Kremlin has additionally distributed photographs exhibiting Prigozhin carrying wigs and faux beards, in one other try to ridicule him.