2023-07-14 17:30:41
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin says Wagner mercenaries do not exist. He said that the Wagner gang was working without legal support. No laws exist regarding private military organizations. He said that the government and parliament should discuss the issue of private military contractors. Putin said this to the business daily ‘Kommersanti’ published on Friday.
He also revealed that Wagner offered the mercenaries the opportunity to remain as a single unit under the same officer. The promise was made last month when Wagner’s group met with them five days following the coup was suspended. On June 29, 35 Wagner commanders, including the group’s chief, Yevgeny Prigoshin, attended a meeting in the Kremlin.
He said they were offered various alternatives for future service. One promise was that everyone in the Wagner group would serve in one place under the same commander, the so-called Gray Hair, who had been leading the military company’s operations in Ukraine for 16 months. Many of Wagner’s commanders nodded in agreement at his suggestion.
However, Prigoshin, who was sitting in front, refused the offer without seeing this. His response was that ‘children will not agree with such a decision’. However, Putin did not reveal what instructions Wagner commanders took. Putin previously said the Wagner soldiers would have to decide whether to sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus or retire from service.
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