MOSCOW — Mercenaries of the Wagner Group are finishing the handover of their weapons to the Russian navy, the Defense Ministry stated Wednesday, a transfer that follows the personal military’s temporary insurrection final month that challenged the Kremlin’s authority.
The disarming of Wagner displays efforts by authorities to defuse the risk it posed and likewise seems to herald an finish to the mercenary group’s operations on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The actions come amid continued uncertainty in regards to the destiny of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and the phrases of a deal that ended the armed insurrection by providing amnesty for him and his mercenaries together with permission to maneuver to Belarus.
Among the weapons turned over had been greater than 2,000 items of kit, resembling tanks, rocket launchers, heavy artillery and air protection programs, together with over 2,500 metric tons of munitions and greater than 20,000 firearms, the Defense Ministry stated.
The assertion follows the Kremlin’s acknowledgment Monday that Prigozhin and 34 of his high officers met with President Vladimir Putin on June 29, 5 days after the insurrection. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Wagner’s commanders pledged loyalty to Putin and that they had been prepared “to continue to fight for the Motherland.”
Putin has stated that Wagner troops had to decide on whether or not to signal contracts with the Defense Ministry, transfer to Belarus or retire from service.
PHOTOS: Russia’s Defense Ministry says Wagner mercenaries are surrendering their weapons to the navy
The Kremlin’s affirmation that Putin met with Prigozhin, who led troops on a march to Moscow to demand the ouster of the nation’s high navy leaders, raised new questions in regards to the deal that ended the insurrection.
Putin denounced the revolt as an act of treason when it began and vowed harsh punishment for many who participated in it, however the felony case in opposition to Prigozhin was dropped hours later as a part of the deal. At the identical time, the Wagner chief apparently may nonetheless face prosecution for monetary wrongdoing or different costs.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who brokered the deal that ended the mutiny, stated final week that his nation supplied Wagner discipline camps however famous that Prigozhin was in Russia and that his troops remained at their dwelling camps. Lukashenko famous that their deployment to Belarus would depend upon choices by Prigozhin and the Russian authorities.
During the revolt that lasted lower than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s mercenaries shortly swept via the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don and captured the navy headquarters there with out firing a shot earlier than driving to inside about 125 miles of Moscow. Prigozhin described it as a “march of justice” to oust the navy leaders, who demanded that Wagner signal contracts with the Defense Ministry by July 1.
The mutiny confronted little resistance and fighters downed at the very least six navy helicopters and a command publish plane, killing at the very least 10 airmen. When the deal was struck, Prigozhin ordered his troops to return to their camps.
The insurrection represented the largest risk to Putin in his greater than twenty years in energy and badly dented his authority, despite the fact that Prigozhin claimed the rebellion was not aimed on the president however supposed to drive the ouster of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the navy’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov.
Both males have saved their jobs. Many observers instructed that even when Putin wasn’t proud of their efficiency, Prigozhin’s demand for his or her ouster helped safe their jobs, since firing them could be seen as a concession to the Wagner boss.
At the identical time, uncertainty surrounds the destiny of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces combating in Ukraine who reportedly had ties to Prigozhin.
Surovikin hasn’t been seen for the reason that insurrection started, when he posted a video urging an finish to it, and two folks in Washington aware of the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate it publicly informed The Associated Press in June that he has been detained. Several Russian navy bloggers additionally stated he has been detained and questioned.
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired common who heads the protection affairs committee within the decrease home of the Russian parliament, stated Wednesday that Surovikin was “resting” and is “not currently available,” however wouldn’t elaborate.
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Associated Press writers Tara Copp and Nomaan Merchant in Washington contributed.
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