Year after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny: BBC News Russian reveals where Wagner mercenaries are now
Pravda Ukraine
BBC News Russian has found out that former mercenaries of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) are currently deployed in Syria, the Central African Republic (CAR), and serving in the Akhmat unit, which is loyal to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and involved in the war against Ukraine. [The Chechen Republic, also known as Chechnya, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation; the Ukrainian parliament has recognised it as the temporarily Russian-occupied territory of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria – ed.]
Source: BBC News Russian
Details: The public service broadcaster noted that the presence of Wagner PMC mercenaries in Syria has been known since 2015. Currently, they operate under the control of Russia’s Ministry of Defence. According to one former Wagner PMC commander, the offer presented to them was straightforward: “Either join the Ministry of Defence or [go away].”
The BBC reports that in some African countries, Wagner mercenaries have now joined the African Corps, having signed contracts with Russia’s Defence Ministry. Until the summer of 2024, the Central African Republic remained the sole country where Wagner PMC continued to operate in its traditional format.
The mercenaries’ activities in the CAR are reportedly led by Pavel Prigozhin, the son of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late financier of Wagner PMC. “Moscow has given the heir the go-ahead to continue doing what his father did in Africa. On the condition that it does not contradict Russia’s interests,” says one of the sources who used to work with Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In addition, at the end of October 2023, Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Akhmat special forces unit, said that former Wagner PMC mercenaries were joining his units and heading to war with Ukraine.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov gave a specific number – over 170 former mercenaries joined Akhmat. However, BBC sources said no more than 50 people actually joined it.
Background:
On 23 June 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin attempted an armed rebellion, being at odds with Russia’s highest political and military leadership, and moved his forces towards the Russian city of Rostov. A month later, on 23 August, Prigozhin and his closest aide Utkin were killed in the crash of an Embraer Legacy 600 aircraft near the village of Kuzhenkino, Tver Oblast.
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