Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered one of the top commanders of the Wagner mercenary group to take command of “volunteer units” fighting in Ukraine, the presidential office announced on Friday.
According to the Kremlin, during a meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Putin told Andrei Troshev – successor to the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s group, who died in a plane crash – that it is his job “deal with the formation of volunteer units capable of performing various combat tasks, mainly in the zone of special military operations”referring to the war in Ukraine.
Wagner fighters have not played any significant role on the battlefield since the mercenary company withdrew after capturing the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.
After the failed mutiny of the Wagner group weeks later, speculation increased about the future of these mercenaries, which were one of the most effective units in the war in Ukraine, with several observers expecting the company to be integrated into the Department of Defense.
Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was also present at the meeting on Thursday evening, a sign that the Wagner mercenaries will likely serve under the command of the Defense Ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Troshev now works for the Defense Ministry.
This week’s meeting appears to reflect the Kremlin’s plan to move some Wagner mercenaries to the front lines in Ukraine, after their failed mutiny in June and after the suspicious deaths of Prigozhin and other leaders in a plane crash on 23 August.
Troshev is a retired military officer who has played a leading role in the Wagner Group since its founding in 2014 and has faced European Union sanctions over his role in Syria as the group’s executive director.
Last Friday, the British Ministry of Defense reported that hundreds of former Wagner group soldiers have likely been transferred to various fronts in Ukraine.
The military offensive that Russia launched in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945), according to the most recent UN data.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: DN
