Kremlin avoids commenting on Wagner's threat to withdraw from Ukraine battlefield

MOSCOW

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday avoided commenting on the statement by the head of the private military company Wagner threatening to withdraw from the battlefield in the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, saying the matter is related to a "special military operation" of Russia.

"We have seen it in the media, but I cannot comment on it because it concerns the course of a special military operation," Peskov told reporters at a press briefing in Moscow.

When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to discuss the recent drone attack on the Kremlin during a meeting with the Russian Security Council on Friday, the spokesman said "one way or another" it will be on the agenda.

Despite the US involvement in the drone attack on the Kremlin, Peskov blamed, Moscow will maintain contacts with Washington "to ensure its interests."

Commenting on the presidential decree temporarily placing the assets of two foreign companies, German Uniper, and Finnish Fortum, under external management, the Kremlin spokesman said it was done in response to the seizure of Russian assets abroad.

He also announced that Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Zhaparov will visit Moscow on May 8-9, but did not confirm the visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

His visit plans are being discussed, "but there is no final agreement," he said.

On Thursday, Pashinyan in a speech at the Prague Center for Transatlantic Relations that he will visit the Russian capital next week.