Russian President Vladimir Putin enters the St. George Corridor on the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Mikhail Klimentyev | AFP | Getty Photos
WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Friday requiring all mercenaries to swear allegiance to Russia, a revelation that comes on the heels of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s reported dying.
The destiny of the Wagner Group – a non-public Russian army firm with ties to conflicts in Africa, Syria and Ukraine – has been unsure since a short-lived revolt in June.
Prigozhin marched his Wagner mercenaries on Moscow following months of frustrations stemming from an absence of Russian battlefield successes in Ukraine. The rise up was quietly referred to as off between Putin and his once-personal-chef Prigozhin and the ex-Kremlin confidant was exiled to Belarus.
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On Thursday, Putin issued fast, impersonal remarks to the households concerned within the airplane crash that’s believed to have killed Prigozhin and high Wagner officers. The doomed flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg has been described as Putin’s “public execution” of Prigozhin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, proprietor of the Wagner Group army firm, arrives throughout a funeral ceremony on the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow, April 8, 2023.
AP
The Kremlin has denied any involvement within the downing of the airplane.
Putin mentioned an investigation into what occurred to the personal jet was already underway.
Russian investigators mentioned the identification of the ten people discovered on the crash website was being carried out. Moreover, the flight recorders from the plane had been retrieved and present process forensic testing.
Belarusian chief Alexander Lukashenko mentioned that he made no safety ensures to Prigozhin following the Wagner mutiny in Russia however added that Putin was not behind the airplane crash.
“I can not think about that Putin did it, that Putin is accountable for this,” Lukashenko mentioned.
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The Pentagon mentioned Thursday that preliminary intelligence signifies that the Wagner chief died within the Wednesday airplane crash.
“It is seemingly Prigozhin was killed and we’re persevering with to evaluate the scenario,” mentioned U.S. Air Power Brigadier Basic Pat Ryder throughout a Pentagon briefing.
“The press reporting stating that there was some kind of surface-to-air missile; we assess that info to be inaccurate,” Ryder mentioned, declining to elaborate additional.
CNBC and NBC Information haven’t confirmed Prigozhin’s dying.