MOSCOW: Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, caused a stir over the weekend with a mutiny that shook President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
On Monday, the group’s headquarters in Saint Petersburg issued a statement claiming to operate in “normal mode,” as Russia appeared to maintain a business-as-usual approach amidst uncertainty surrounding Wagner’s fate.
The statement emphasized that despite recent events, the center continued its operations within the framework of Russian law. Wagner, based in Saint Petersburg, asserted that it had worked toward Russia’s future and expressed gratitude to its supporters.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Wagner, has not been seen since Saturday. However, the Kremlin announced that he would be sent to neighboring Belarus following a Minsk-brokered deal to quell the rebellion.
Wagner, whose existence Moscow previously denied until its involvement in Ukraine became evident, claimed to have provided opportunities for talented individuals from across Russia. In addition to developing domestic drones, the group stated that it had focused on training information warfare specialists and countering the dissemination of false information.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is known for leading a notorious troll farm in Saint Petersburg. Despite President Putin condemning the Wagner mutiny as “treason” and warning of the potential for civil war, reports from Russian media indicated that some of the group’s offices throughout the country were still recruiting fighters. According to the state news agency TASS, Wagner recruitment resumed in Novosibirsk and Tyumen in Siberia, with ongoing activities reported by a Wagner worker in Novosibirsk.
However, lawmakers in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, stated that Wagner could no longer recruit convicts. Prigozhin had previously enlisted thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine, promising them amnesty upon their return if they survived. Senior lawmaker Pavel Krasheninnikov explained that a change in the law now required contracts to be exclusively signed with the defense ministry, ending the practice of recruiting convicts.
