Wagner soldiers will no longer participate significantly in the battles in Ukraine, the Pentagon estimates.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin says that the head of the mercenary company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin refused to put his fighters under someone else’s command. Kommersant newspaper on Thursday evening publishing in the interview, Putin said that he offered a way forward for the Wagner fighters.
The Kremlin has previously confirmed that Putin met with Prigozhin and other Wagner executives on June 29, five days after the mercenary company’s brief coup in Russia.
The future and whereabouts of the members of Wagner are still uncertain. According to some recent information, Prigozhin is currently in Belarus.
On June 23 and 24, thousands of Wagner’s mercenaries marched in a motorcade from southern Russia towards Moscow with the aim of overthrowing the country’s military leaders. The rebellion ended with the leader of Belarus Aljaksandr Lukashenko to forward the contract.
Observers say the rebellion was the biggest challenge to Putin’s authority since he came to power in late 1999.
In an interview with Kommersant, Putin also said that the Wagner company does not legally exist.
– We do not have a law on private military organizations, Putin stated to a Russian newspaper.
According to Putin, Wagner still exists as a group, which he says is a challenging issue that must be addressed in the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
The US Department of Defense, the Pentagon, on the other hand, announced that Wagner’s soldiers will no longer participate significantly in combat operations in Ukraine.
– At the moment, we have not observed Wagner’s forces participating significantly in combat operations in Ukraine, said the Pentagon’s press secretary Pat Ryder.
According to Ryder, most of the Wagner forces are still in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.