Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine, says legislator
Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin accused of committing treason due to ‘exorbitant ambitions’
Moscow — Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been told that his Wagner group will no longer fight in Ukraine because he has refused to sign contracts to bring his mercenaries under the sway of the defence ministry, a senior legislator said on Thursday.
Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, an influential legislator who chairs the lower house of parliament’s defence committee, said the trigger for Saturday’s mutiny was Prigozhin’s disagreement with a demand by the defence ministry that his mercenary group sign contracts.
“As you know, a few days before the attempted mutiny the defence ministry said that all formations performing combat tasks must sign contracts with the defence ministry,” said Kartapolov. “Everyone started to implement this decision ... everyone except Mr Prigozhin.”
Prigozhin said on June 11 that his Wagner fighters would not sign any contract with defence minister Sergei Shoigu, adding that Shoigu was unable to manage military units.
Kartapolov said that after Prigozhin’s refusal to sign the contracts he was told that his mercenaries would no longer fight in Ukraine and thus would not receive state money. As a result, Prigozhin, committed treason due to “exorbitant ambitions”, money and what he cast as an “excited state”.
Reuters