After the end of the Wagner group
Volunteers and mercenaries should continue to go to the front for Putin
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
In addition to hundreds of thousands of regular soldiers, Russia continues to rely heavily on volunteer fighters and mercenaries in its invasion of Ukraine. Despite bad experiences with the Wagner Group, nothing will change, according to information from London. The Kremlin apparently needs every fighter.
According to British intelligence experts, Russia continues to rely on volunteer organizations and private armies after the Wagner uprising. This comes from that daily intelligence report from the Ministry of Defense in London on the war in Ukraine.
This indicates that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently commissioned Wagner's former chief of staff Andrei Troshev to set up new volunteer associations. Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov, who was recently seen visiting African countries, was also present at the meeting. Russia is “ready to leverage the experience of veterans who can demonstrate their loyalty and continued service in the Global South, but likely with greater Kremlin control,” the statement said.
Private armies are officially banned in Russia. However, Prigozhin's Wagner troop has already carried out military missions in Syria and several African countries where the use of regular Russian soldiers was too sensitive. Wagner appeared quite openly in the war against Ukraine. Prigozhin was even allowed to recruit prisoners for his troops in penal camps for a time. Only after Wagner's founder repeatedly criticized the Moscow military leadership was he prohibited from doing so.
After his troops withdrew from Ukraine – where they had conquered the city of Bakhmut after heavy fighting – Prigozhin tried an uprising against the Russian military leadership, which failed. He died in a plane crash in August under circumstances that are still unclear.
The British Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine began in February 2022. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.
