MOSCOW — Mercenaries of the Wagner Group are finishing the handover of their weapons to the Russian navy, the Protection Ministry stated Wednesday, a transfer that follows the non-public military’s transient rebel final month that challenged the Kremlin’s authority.
The disarming of Wagner displays efforts by authorities to defuse the risk it posed and in addition seems to herald an finish to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The actions come amid continued uncertainty in regards to the destiny of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and the phrases of a deal that ended the armed rebel by providing amnesty for him and his mercenaries together with permission to maneuver to Belarus.
Among the many weapons turned over had been greater than 2,000 items of apparatus, reminiscent of tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and air protection techniques, together with over 2,500 metric tons of munitions and greater than 20,000 firearms, the Protection Ministry stated.
The assertion follows the Kremlin’s acknowledgment Monday that Prigozhin and 34 of his prime officers met with President Vladimir Putin on June 29, 5 days after the rebel. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Wagner’s commanders pledged loyalty to Putin and that they had been prepared “to proceed to battle for the Motherland.”
Putin has stated that Wagner troops had to decide on whether or not to signal contracts with the Protection Ministry, transfer to Belarus or retire from service.
The Kremlin’s affirmation that Putin met with Prigozhin, who led troops on a march to Moscow to demand the ouster of the nation’s prime navy leaders, raised new questions in regards to the deal that ended the rebel.
Putin denounced the revolt as an act of treason when it began and vowed harsh punishment for many who participated in it, however the legal case in opposition to Prigozhin was dropped hours later as a part of the deal. On the similar time, the Wagner chief apparently might nonetheless face prosecution for monetary wrongdoing or different costs.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered the deal that ended the mutiny, stated final week that his nation provided Wagner discipline camps however famous that Prigozhin was in Russia and that his troops remained at their house camps. Lukashenko famous that their deployment to Belarus would rely on choices by Prigozhin and the Russian authorities.
In the course of the revolt that lasted lower than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries shortly swept by means of the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don and captured the navy headquarters there with out firing a shot earlier than driving to inside about 200 kilometers (125 miles) of Moscow. Prigozhin described it as a “march of justice” to oust the navy leaders, who demanded that Wagner signal contracts with the Protection Ministry by July 1.
The mutiny confronted little resistance and fighters downed at the very least six navy helicopters and a command put up plane, killing at the very least 10 airmen. When the deal was struck, Prigozhin ordered his troops to return to their camps.
The rebel represented the largest risk to Putin in his greater than twenty years in energy and badly dented his authority, though Prigozhin claimed the rebellion was not aimed on the president however supposed to drive the ouster of Protection Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the navy’s Normal Workers, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.
Each males have stored their jobs. Many observers advised that even when Putin wasn’t pleased with their efficiency, Prigozhin’s demand for his or her ouster helped safe their jobs, since firing them can be seen as a concession to the Wagner boss.
On the similar time, uncertainty surrounds the destiny of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces combating in Ukraine who reportedly had ties to Prigozhin.
Surovikin hasn’t been seen because the rebel started, when he posted a video urging an finish to it, and two individuals in Washington acquainted with the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate it publicly instructed The Related Press in June that he has been detained. A number of Russian navy bloggers additionally stated he has been detained and questioned.
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired basic who heads the protection affairs committee within the decrease home of the Russian parliament, stated Wednesday that Surovikin was “resting” and is “not at present out there,” however would not elaborate.
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Related Press writers Tara Copp and Nomaan Service provider in Washington contributed.