Wagner quits war
Mercenary army pull out after failed coup
MERCENARY group Wagner – Russia’s frontline fighting force in Ukraine – is no longer involved in combat “in any significant way” following its mutiny, the US said yesterday.
WithVladimir Putin’s military inner circle in turmoil, the Russian President has also admitted that the group does not legally exist.
Putin’s army is now widely seen to be in disarray.
The Pentagon said that the 25,000-strong group of fighters, led by the feared warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, had now left the country.
Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told a news briefing: “We do not see Wagner forces participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine.”
President Putin said that Prigozhin rejected an offer to his fighters to serve as a unit in Russia’s army.
He told Kommersant newspaper that many group commanders had backed the plan to be led by a senior Wagner figure during recent talks in Moscow.
He said Prigozhin’s reply
was: “The guys do not agree with this decision.”
When asked whether the group would be preserved, Mr Putin said: “There is no law on private military organisations. It just doesn’t exist.”
Prigozhin launched a rebellion against Russia’s military leadership last month, but backed down after a deal
was brokered by Putin’s ally, President Lukashenko of Belarus.
Prighozin’s whereabouts are unknown, but yesterday an unverified image of him in his underwear emerged on Russian chat forums.
It is suggested he is pictured in a camp similar to those built for Wagner soldiers in Belarus.