Wagner Group resumes recruitment in Russia

Russian media have reported that the Wagner Group has become a unit of the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia) and has resumed recruiting soldiers in Russia, in particular, in Perm and Novosibirsk.

Source: Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian independent news outlet; Perm-based website 59.ru; Novosibirsk-based website Ngs.ru

Details: A representative of the Wagner Group in Perm said that this new Rosgvardia unit is headed by Pavel Prigozhin, the son and sole heir of Yevgeny Prigozhin who was the founder of the Wagner Group.

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The recruits are those who already have combat experience, and among them are those who have already been part of private military companies.

The source said that the payment will range from 80,000 to 240,000 roubles (from US$860 to US$2,500), depending on the location where the mercenaries are to serve. The contract term is at least six months.

The Novosibirsk office of the Wagner Group said that recruitment has been going on for “two or three days”. The source said that “so far, they have not recruited any convicts or sick people”.

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The first reports that the Wagner Group was resuming recruitment appeared on 27-28 October in Telegram channels associated with the group, as well as in chats of relatives of Wagner fighters. 

Those Telegram channels stated that the Group would not accept former mercenaries who had joined the Russian Ministry of Defence after Prigozhin’s mutiny this summer.

The Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories) investigative outlet said that the negotiations on the mercenaries’ transfer to Rosgvardia were conducted by Pavel Prigozhin and Wagner Group commander Anton Elizarov who goes by the alias Lotos. 

Background:

• It was reported earlier that the Rosgvardia was recruiting former Wagner Group convicted militants to dominate over the remaining Wagner Group fighters and take care of Russia’s internal security at the same time.
• After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner Group leaders in a plane crash, the Kremlin began to say that the Wagner Group did not legally exist and that they could not say anything about the company’s future.
• The Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that former mercenaries of the Wagner Group, who were in Belarus, signed a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry and moved to the eastern front in Ukraine. Some of the militants went to Africa.

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