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Russia's Wagner Group announced it has halted recruitment of fighters for a month in the wake of a failed mutiny led by its chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
A Telegram channel used by the Wagner Group for recruitment published a statement late on Sunday announcing a temporary hiring freeze while its fighters relocate to Belarus—where Prigozhin was exiled as part of a deal brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the aftermath of his uprising on June 24.
Prigozhin hasn't been sighted publicly since the end of his rebellion, when he departed from Russia's southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
State-run news agency RIA Novosti published a video showing the Wagner boss leaving by car. Lukashenko said that he had made an agreement with Prigozhin on de-escalation, offering him and his fighters "an absolutely profitable and acceptable option for resolving the situation, with security guarantees."
"Due to the temporary non-participation of PMC Wagner in the special military operation and relocating to the Republic of Belarus, we are temporarily suspending the work of regional recruitment centers for PMC Wagner for a period of 1 month," Wagner's recruitment channel said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said last week that the Wagner Group would hand over its heavy military equipment to Russia's armed forces following the mutiny.
"Preparations are underway for the transfer of 'Wagner' PMC [private military company] heavy military equipment to the active units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," it said in a statement, without specifying what military equipment would be transferred.
Prigozhin's attempted rebellion came amid an intensifying spat between the Wagner Group boss and Russia's military leadership. Prigozhin recently shut down a demand from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin that the Wagner Group sign contracts directly with the Defense Ministry with a July 1 deadline.
According to Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma's defense committee, Prigozhin's fighters will not be able to take part in fighting in Ukraine without signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
The group's announcement comes after reports circulated that it appeared still to be recruiting people to fight in Ukraine in the aftermath of the mutiny.
Russia's state-run news agency Tass reported last week that the recruitment of fighters had resumed at Wagner centers in the cities of Tyumen and Novosibirsk. And independent Russian outlet Agentsvo said one of its journalists was offered interviews with Wagner in Murmansk, Smolensk and Rostov-on-Don.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank says satellite images collected between June 15 and 27 show Belarusian authorities may be constructing a new camp for Wagner Group fighters at an abandoned Belarusian military base near the town of Asipovichy, about 50 miles from Minsk.
The Wagner Group played a crucial role in Russia's push to capture the Ukrainian industrial city Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more