The mercenaries of the Wagner Group already they won’t fight anymore in Ukraine. This has been made clear by the defense committee of the Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament), Andrey Kartapolovthis Thursday in statements collected by the Russian news agency rate.
It is one of the consequences of the failed mutiny that the head of the mercenary organization, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rode over the weekend. Apparently, according to Kartapolov, the expulsion of Wagner’s fighters from the battlefield is due to the fact that Prigozhin did not sign the necessary contracts to formalize the status of his men.
“All the groups that carry out combat missions must sign a contract with the Defense Ministry,” said Kartapolov, who recalled that this measure it was taken several days before the rebellion from last week.
Andrei Kartapolov, Chairman of the Duma defense committee.
According to Kartapolov, Prigozhin did not agree with this, as he made clear on social networks, and he has not signed the papers, for which he has been informed that “Wagner will not participate in the special military operation.” “That is to say, no funds will be allocatedmaterial resources”, added Kartapolov, according to rate.
According to the legislator, Prigozhin committed treason because of his “exorbitant ambitions”, money and what he described as a “state of excitement”. In his appearance at this Thursday’s session in the Duma, Kartapolov added that “Mr. Prigozhin” from worry only about moneyaccording to a translation offered on Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister.
Head of defense committee in Russian parliament Andrey Kartapolov says Wagnerites would not participate in combat actions in Ukraine anymore. He blames “Mr. Prigozhin” for only caring about money and his own ambitions from him.
This information was confirmed by head of Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/kV40dhPDjp
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2023
Despite the end of the operations of the Wagner group on the Ukrainian front, Prigozhin’s mercenaries will continue their activities in Syria and various parts of the African continent.
Syria
Russia officially began military operations in Syria in 2015 in President Bashar al-Assad’s support, deploying its air force from Hmeimim airbase and using contractors, including Wagner, for some ground operations and in security roles. The group took over the security of the al-Shaer oil field.
[Desde África a Ucrania, los tentáculos del Grupo Wagner con Prigozhin al frente]
Wagner has recruited former Syrian rebel fighters in areas retaken by Assad, even to use them as mercenaries in Libya from 2019. Meanwhile, the hmeimim airbase it has become a critical node in Wagner’s global logistics operations as a transit point for flights between Russia, the Middle East and to Africa via airbases in Libya.
Libya
The paramilitary group entered Libya in 2019 to help the eastern commander Khalifa Haftar in its assault on Tripoli to oust the internationally recognized government. The US Department of Defense said in 2020 that Wagner’s support for Haftar appeared to have been paid by the United Arab Emirateswhich supported the warlord along with Russia and Egypt, according to Reuters.
Prigozhin in a video from May 10.
UN sanctions monitors reported in 2020 that Wagner had deployed up to 1,200 people in Libya and the US Military Command in Africa claimed that there were Russian military planes supplying fighters to the mercenaries there. In addition to bringing in Syrian fighters as mercenaries, Wagner worked alongside foreign fighters from Sudan, Chad and elsewhere.
After the failure of Haftar’s offensive in 2020, Wagner remained in Libya with a presence at Jufra and other air bases in the south and east that, according to investigators, it uses as springboard to other sites in Africa.
Central African Republic (CAR)
Russian mercenaries intervened for the first time in 2018 on the side of the Government to put down a civil war which has spanned since 2012. The Russian ambassador to the Central African Republic said in a February interview with the Russian state news agency ESTUARY that 1,890 “Russian instructors” were present in the country. Analysts have said that Wagner received stumpage rights and control of a gold mine in the RCA.
mali
Both Russia and Mali have claimed that Russian fighters they are not mercenaries, but instructors helping local troops fight a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants. Mali’s leaders seized power in a coup in 2021 and they hired Wagner after asking the French military mission to leave. Government contracts directly with the paramilitary organization Russian, and pays about $10.8 million a month for its services.
Malians hold the Russian flag during a pro-Armed Forces demonstration in May 2021.
Sudan
Western nations and diplomats say Wagner has been involved in the gold miningthe disinformation spread and schemes to suppress pro-democracy protests in Sudan, as Russia has sought to influence events before and after the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bachir.
Although Moscow maintains ties with the two military factions in conflict in Sudan since April 15, Wagner is believed to have a relationship with the paramilitaries. Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and not with the Army.
Wagner denies operating in Sudan, stating that his staff have not been there for more than two years and that they have no role in the fighting. However, in May the United States accused Wagner of supplying surface-to-air missiles to the RSF, “contributing to a protracted armed conflict that is only causing more chaos in the region.”
