The Russian mercenary Wagner Group is still recruiting fighters across Russia, days after staging a mutiny against Russia's Defense Ministry, BBC found after making calls to a dozen of Wagner recruitment offices in Russia.
"All those who replied confirmed that it was business as usual. From Kaliningrad in the west to Krasnodar in the south, no-one believed the group was being disbanded. In the Arctic city of Murmansk, a woman at the Viking sports club confirmed that she was still signing up fighters for Ukraine," BBC wrote.
According to BBC, several people who picked up the phone claimed that the new recruits still sign contracts with the Wagner Group itself, not the Russian defense ministry.
The conflict between Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Defense Ministry escalated after the ministry tried to take control of all Russian mercenary groups and demanded that before 1 July, all private military groups sign contracts with the ministry.
For years, Russian President Vladimir Putin had denied official links to Wagner Group, which formally has been a private military company, but after the Wagner mutiny, Putin confirmed that the group was 100% funded by the Russian state.
Read also:
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- Putin acknowledges that Russian state fully funded Wagner Group “private military company”
- Putin allows Wagner fighters to “leave to Belarus,” quit, or subordinate to Russia’s MoD
- Prigozhin’s failed mutiny: What made him back down?
- Wagner chief Prigozhin planned mutiny in Russia since mid-June – Washington Post
- Prigozhin stops Wagner forces 200 km away from Moscow, says they return to field camps
- Wagner chief announces “march for justice” after alleged Russian strike on mercenary troops (UPDATES)
