(Moscow) The headquarters of the paramilitary group Wagner in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg, assured Monday that it continued to operate “normally”, two days after the abortive rebellion of its leader Yevgeny Prigojine.
“Despite the events that have taken place, the Center continues to function “normally”, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation! “Wagner said in a statement, while the fate of the group – dismantling, integration into the army or status quo? – remains uncertain.
Earlier Monday, sources inside Wagner said the group was continuing to recruit in several regions.
“Recruitment continues,” an employee of the city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, told the official TASS news agency.
In front of the building hosting the group in Novosibirsk, the advertising posters bearing the image of Wagner were again hung on Monday, according to TASS, after being removed on Saturday.
PHOTO ASSOCIATED PRESS
A man takes down a recruitment poster from the Wagner group on June 24 in Saint Petersburg.
“We work by appointment, every day,” an employee in the city of Tyumen, 2,000 km east of Moscow, also confirmed to TASS.
The contours of the agreement reached on Saturday between Evguéni Prigojine and Moscow to resolve the unprecedented crisis caused by Wagner’s armed rebellion remain unclear at this stage.
The Kremlin ensures that no Wagner fighter who followed Mr. Prigojine in his revolt will be prosecuted, but no one knows what will really happen to the organization. The Kremlin has assured that Mr. Prigojine will visit Belarus.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PRESS SERVICE OF EVGENI PRIGOZHIN VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wagner’s leader, Yevgeni Prigozhin
Earlier on Monday, the Chairman of the Duma Committee on Legislation and State Building, Pavel Krasheninnikov, announced that those convicted by the Russian courts will no longer be able to be recruited by “private military organizations” such as Wagner. .
Wagner had however recruited many fighters in Russian prisons, with the approval of the government, to send them to the front in Ukraine, but for several months the Kremlin had theoretically prohibited such a practice.
Before, these groups “could recruit those who were convicted and enter into contracts with them. Now a different procedure has been adopted according to which contracts are concluded only with the Ministry of Defense,” Krasheninnikov told reporters, quoted by the Interfax agency.