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Aug. 1 2023, Published 5:30 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin’s exiled mercenary chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, recently suspended recruitment for his Wagner Private Military Company following the group’s botched coup against Moscow, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
In a surprising development to come more than one month after Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries marched on Moscow on June 24 before turning around at the 11th hour, the 64-year-old warlord announced on Monday that Wagner will not be recruiting new soldiers for the time being.
“As long as we do not experience a shortage in personnel, we do not plan to carry out a new recruitment,” Prigozhin said this week, according to Daily Star.
“However, we will be extremely grateful to you if you keep in touch with us, and as soon as the Motherland needs to create a new ‘group’ that will be able to protect the interests of our country, we will certainly start recruiting,” he continued.
“And once again, on behalf of myself and the council of commanders, I want to thank you for the contribution, the invaluable contribution that you made to the accomplishments that the Wagner Group made in 2022 and 2023, including the capture of the city of Bakhmut.”
Meanwhile, Putin’s chef-turned-mercenary chief indicated that Wagner will remain in Belarus as the group organizes its “next tasks.”
“Today we are defining our next tasks, the outline of which is becoming more and more clearly drawn,” he said. “Operations will be carried out in the name of the greatness of Russia.”
As RadarOnline.com reported, Prigozhin launched a coup against Putin and Moscow on June 24 in an effort to oust Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Defense Staff Valery Gerasimov from power.
Prigozhin ultimately ended the rebellion after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko stepped in and brokered a deal with the Wagner chief on Putin’s behalf.
Prigozhin and his mercenary group accepted amnesty in Belarus and have remained there since late June.
As part of Putin’s deal, Wagner troops were reportedly offered the opportunity to join the Russian military – although Prigozhin also revealed this week that only a few of his soldiers accepted the opportunity.
“Neither I nor the council of commanders set any restrictions on the transfer of our former and current comrades to other power structures of the Russian Federation,” he explained. “Unfortunately, few agreed to transfer from the Wagner Group.”
“Long years of hard work, long years of war, shoulder to shoulder with our comrades, made us one team,” Prigozhin added. And so our comrades-in-arms are striving to return to the Wagner Group.”
As RadarOnline.com reported, there are also fears that the Belarus-based Wagner PMC is now plotting to invade Poland in an effort to test NATO’s resolve.
“We take very seriously this threat related to the presence of the Wagner anti-tank missile system near the Polish border in Belarus,” Polish Senator Michal Kaminsky said last week amid reports that Wagner might invade Poland.
“We have already reacted by increasing the number of our troops on the eastern and northeastern borders,” Kaminsky added.
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