2023-07-13 10:35:19
According to the Ministry of Defense there were more than 2,000 pieces of equipment, such as tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and anti-aircraft defense systems.
Wagner Group mercenaries are completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian armed forces, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, following a brief rebellion last month by the Russian private army in defiance of Kremlin authority.
Wagner’s disarmament reflects the efforts of the authorities to defuse the threat he represented, and also seems to herald the end of the mercenary group’s operations in the war in Ukraine.
Uncertainty remains over the fate of Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the terms of an agreement that ended the armed rebellion by offering amnesty for him and his mercenaries along with permission to move to Belarus.
Among the weapons delivered were more than 2,000 pieces of equipment including tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and air defense systems, along with more than 2,500 tons of ammunition and more than 20,000 firearms, the Defense Ministry said.
On Monday, Moscow reported that Prigozhin and 34 of his top officers met with President Vladimir Putin on June 29, five days following the rebellion.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wagner’s commanders pledged allegiance to Putin and were ready to “continue fighting for the Motherland.”
Putin denounced the revolt as an act of treason when it began and promised harsh punishment for those who participated in it, but the criminal case once morest Prigozhin was dropped hours later as part of the deal.
At the same time, Wagner’s boss apparently might still face prosecution on financial improprieties or other charges.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered the deal that ended the mutiny, said last week that his country offered Wagner camps, but noted that Prigozhin was in Russia and his soldiers remained in their camps at home.
The rebellion posed the biggest threat to Putin in his more than two decades in power, despite Prigozhin’s claim that it was not once morest him, but once morest the military commanders.
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