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Since Saturday, when Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to go into exile in belarus After putting down the rebellion against the Russian government that he had led on Friday, the world wonders what will be the future of the wagner group. Until the weekend, the powerful private mercenary company had a leading role on the war front in Ukraine, with thousands of troops deployed in enemy territory. In addition, it operates in countries in Africa and Asia.
READ ALSO: Wagner Group: Why is there a war between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu?
The failed rebellion also represented the worst crisis in which the president has been involved. Vladimir Putin since he came to power in the year 2000. The president is a great ally of Prigozhin and under his rule the Wagner Group as a private company that provides military services.
An order of the Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoiguso that the Wagner Group fighters to sign their contracts directly with the army until before July 1 precipitated the rebellion.
Prigozhin accepted on Saturday a pact with the Kremlin mediated by the president of belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. He had to put an end to the rebellion in exchange for going to that country without being prosecuted, while his men would not be criminally punished either.
These are some keys to the future of the wagner group and of Evgeny Prigozhin:
This Monday Prigozhin He spoke for the first time since he withdrew his troops that were approaching Moscow. He did not say where he was or anticipated what the future of Wagner.
In the audio that he released, he assured that with the rebellion he sought to save the Wagner Group from extinction and not to overthrow power in Russia.
He indicated that the wagner group it was to “cease to exist on July 1 as a result of the intrigues” of the Russian military elite.
“Only a few fighters from the private army agreed to sign the contract with the Defense Ministry,” assured.
He added that the obligation to submit to shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, Valeri Gerasimovwas put on the table “at the least appropriate moment”.
He explained that Wagner intended to transfer all its troops and equipment to rostov-on-don on June 30 to “publicly hand over” its weapons to the Russian military.
“Although we did not show signs of aggression, they attacked us with missiles and then with helicopters. About 30 troops from Wagner died, some were injured”She complained.
He added that the straw that broke the camel’s back was a bombing with missiles by Russian forces against a camp of Wagner in the Russian rear Ukraine.
He stated that not a single Russian soldier was killed during the uprising and regretted that his units had to respond to attacks by US military planes and helicopters. Russian Armed Forces who tried to stop the columns and caused two deaths in the ranks of Wagner.
“We started our march in protest of injustice. (…) in 24 hours we approached up to 200 kilometers from Moscowwe entered and took the city of rostov-on-don. The civilians were glad to see us. We gave an example of what it must have been like on February 24, 2022″, when the Russian invasion of Ukrainehe claimed.
“Our march brought to the table many things that we had talked about before: the serious security problems throughout the country. We blocked all military units and airfields that were in our way”he emphasized.
He stressed that in just one day the mercenaries covered a great distance and pointed out that “if the actions at the beginning of the Russian military special operation had been carried out by a unit like Wagnerprobably the campaign would have lasted 24 hours”.
“We show the level of organization that the Russian Army should have”he asserted.
Saturday night, Yevgeny Prigozhin left the city to applause rostov-on-donwhere he had taken control of a military barracks.
According to the Kremlin, Prigozhin had Putin’s “word” to leave Russian territory and go to belarus.
belarus has not confirmed the entry of Prigozhin in the country.
But according to the Verstka investigative portal, camps for mercenaries of the Wagner Group have begun to be built in the Belarusian region of mogilovabout 200 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
The camp area will be 24,000 square meters and structures will be created for 8,000 beds, the EFE news agency reported.
While Russian military blogger Michael Nacke told the AFP agency that Prigozhin will install the foundation for Wagner in belarus and will continue with the operations of his group in Africa.
But added that “Prigozhin has become an extremely vulnerable target: he can be imprisoned, he can be killed”.
After the failure of the uprising, the mercenaries who did not directly participate in the uprising They will be forced to subordinate themselves to the Ministry of Defense if they want to continue fighting in Ukraine.. They have a deadline to do so until July 1.
The EFE news agency explains that in practice, the wagner group as such it will be dismantled at least in its operations in Russia and Ukraine.
In addition, since Saturday several social networks of the mercenaries have been blocked in VKontakte, the Russian Facebook, reports EFE.
Also on Saturday, the billboards that were all over the Russia to recruit fighters, and its marketing products were removed from e-commerce. Although in the case of the billboards, on Monday they began to be replaced in some places, such as the company’s headquarters located in St. Petersburg.
“Wagner could be dissolved in its entirety, or absorbed”, wrote Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analyses, a US-based think-tank.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries were charged by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office of “stage an armed rebellion”, a crime that is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. But after the agreement mediated by belarusMoscow offered them guarantees that they would not be prosecuted and that the charges would be dropped.
However, until this Monday at least the head of Wagner was still under investigation.
“The case has not been closed, the investigation continues,” a source from the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office told the press in that country.
He wagner group has thousands of fighters in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Many of these mercenaries were released from prison in exchange for benefits, such as being released if they spent six months on the war front.
These mercenaries will be able to continue in Ukraine, but subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, the entity with which they must sign their private contracts. Now The unknown is what will happen to Wagner’s operations in African and Asian countries.
For now, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that Wagner it can continue with its operations in Mali and the Central African Republic.
In addition, the Wagner headquarters, located in St. Petersburg, was operating normally on Monday.
“Despite the events that took place, The center continues to function normally. according to the legislation of the Russian Federation”the company stated in a statement.
Wagner informed the Russian press that continued to recruit staff in various regions.
The EFE agency indicated that Wagner it will continue to operate on other continents to the extent that the Kremlin so provides, since it operates where putin it cannot officially send military forces.
The Wagner Group is also present in Syria, Libya, Sudan, among other countries.
In those nations they train local forces, protect natural resources, also exploit them through associated firms, and fight in support of armed rebels or jihadists.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
