President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has met with the previous chief of employees of the Wagner Group, the Kremlin stated Friday, in an additional signal that Moscow is working to take management of what stays of personal army energy after its chief had led a revolt. in opposition to the Kremlin and later died in a aircraft crash.
Mr Putin has tasked the previous chief of employees, Andrei N. Troshev, with forming volunteer items to hold out fight missions for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, in accordance with a video clip of the Thursday night assembly that the Kremlin revealed on Friday.
With out mentioning Wagner by identify, Mr. Putin added that Mr. Troshev “has fought in such a unit for greater than a yr” and is aware of “ do it.” The mercenary group was a serious pressure behind Russia’s battle for Bakhmut in jap Ukraine, and Putin’s televised assembly appeared designed to publicly announce the Kremlin’s targets of constructing successors to Wagner who would come below the federal government’s direct management .
Wagner fighters, hundreds of whom had been recruited from prisons in Russia, operated below largely unbiased command till June, when the Protection Ministry took steps to combine them into the broader army. The transfer would have decreased the ability of the group’s former chief, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, and, analysts imagine, halted his failed mutiny in opposition to Russia’s army management.
For the reason that mutiny and Prigozhin’s dying in August, Wagner’s destiny has been unclear, though U.S. officers have stated the Kremlin believes its army prowess, skilled operators and ties to African governments are too invaluable to surrender. Mr. Putin made this clear in his assembly with Mr. Troshev, telling him that state-sponsored assist measures for veterans of the battle in Ukraine had been additionally obtainable to members of volunteer teams that fought there.
“Whatever the standing of the one who is finishing up or has carried out fight missions, social ensures should be completely the identical for everybody,” Putin stated.
Putin’s assembly with Troshev additionally confirmed that the Kremlin continues to search for methods to probably ship extra troops to Ukraine with out resorting to an unpopular design. Till this summer season, Wagner performed an necessary function on this by mobilizing prisoners and volunteers for high-risk missions; Mr. Prigozhin claimed that 20,000 Wagner fighters died within the battle for Bakhmut.
Within the aftermath of the mutiny, some Wagner mercenaries had moved to Belarus as a part of an settlement brokered by that nation’s chief. A Ukrainian official stated earlier this week that about 500 of them had returned to the entrance traces in jap Ukraine after contract negotiations with the Protection Ministry. The declare couldn’t be independently verified.
Officers advised The New York Instances that some troopers throughout the firm remained loyal to Mr. Prigozhin even after his dying and the group’s closure and didn’t need to be transferred to the Russian Protection Ministry.
Regardless of being one in all Wagner’s founders, Mr. Troshev seems to have come below the Kremlin’s wings. In July, Mr. Putin had urged that Mr. Troshev, seen as a extra accommodating deputy than Mr. Prigozhin, ought to grow to be Wagner’s new chief.
Mr Troshev is a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya and goes by the nickname ‘Sedoi’ or ‘Gray-haired’. In response to European and British sanctions paperwork, he “made a vital contribution to Bashar al-Assad’s conflict effort” and “oppressed the civilian inhabitants in Syria.”
On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov advised RIA, a state media outlet, that Mr. Troshev already holds a place within the Protection Ministry.
Anton Trojanovsky reporting contributed.
