After the death of the head of the wagner pmc yevgeny prigozhin, the group continues to exist and maintains separate units of mercenaries in belarus, Mali and the Central African Republic. According to UNN, this was reported by British intelligence, analyzing the current state of the wagner on the anniversary of the prigozhin rebellion.
Details
As noted, after prigozhin's death in a plane crash on August 23, 2023, his private military company wagner still exists – now it is headed by his son pavel prigozhin, and commanded by anton "lotos" elizarov. The group's mercenaries have been withdrawn from the front in Ukraine and some African countries, but wagner maintains independent deployments in belarus, Mali and the Central African Republic.
According to British intelligence, prigozhin began the practice of recruiting prisoners to participate in the war against Ukraine. From July 2022 to February 2023, when this practice was adopted by the russian defense ministry, more than 48 thousand prisoners were recruited to wagner, more than 17 thousand of whom later died in battle.
At the same time, since February 2022, the total number of prisoners in russia has decreased by at least 150 thousand people. Probably, most of these prisoners were released in exchange for agreeing to fight in Ukraine, the intelligence service writes.
Recall
On June 24 , 2023, yevgeny prigozhin headed zkolot when more than 8 thousand mercenaries marched towards the russian capital against the russian high military command, accusing them of corruption and non-performance of official duties. On August 23, his plane crashed in the tver region of the russian federation.
And then several high-ranking russian military leaders were arrested on corruption charges. And former russian defense minister shoigu, who was actively criticized by prigozhin, was replaced.
WSJ: ліквідацію пригожина організував микола патрушев22.12.23, 13:06