Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, announced on Thursday that members of the Wagner group will not return to fight in Ukraine after Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the mercenary group, refused to sign a contract with the Kremlin.
Kartapolov said Russia’s defense ministry had announced a few days before the attempted uprising that “all groups conducting combat missions must sign a contract” with the ministry, Tass news agency reported.
Still according to Kartapolov, Prigozhin was told that “Wagner would not continue to participate in a special military operation”, so “no more funding or material resources will be awarded”.
Ukrainians confirm Wagner is out in Lugansk
Kirilo Budanov, head of the General Directorate of Information in Ukraine, meanwhile confirmed that the mercenaries of the Wagner group are still present in Lugansk, in the east of the country, but are not taking part in the fighting.
According to the head of the Ukrainian secret service, the Russian mercenaries are on their own base that has existed “since 2014”, the year when Russia forcibly took the regions of Donbass – Donetsk and Lugansk – reports the digital daily Ukrainska Pravda. .
“They are also in some parts of southern Ukraine, but they are not taking part in hostilities,” Budanov added, referring to the continuous fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces for 16 months since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Considered Moscow’s armed wing abroad, the Wagner group, led by Russian businessman Yevgueni Prigozhin, staged an armed uprising against Russian authorities last weekend between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, which shocked Russia.
In less than 24 hours, the mercenaries seized several military installations in the strategic city of Rostov, in the southwest of the country, and drove hundreds of kilometers towards Moscow before Prigozhin put an end to the uprising, in exchange for the immunity promised by the Kremlin for him and for his fighters, obtained in an agreement brokered by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
This crisis has been the biggest challenge Putin, who called the events “betrayal”, has faced since taking power in late 1999.
After these events, Moscow chose to forego the services of the Wagner group in the war of occupation it is waging in Ukraine, but its elements will continue to be contracted in Africa.
Source: DN
