Tue 27 June 2023:
On Tuesday, Moscow said that preparations were underway to transfer military hardware owned by the Wagner paramilitary group to the Russian Armed Forces, Anadolu Agency reported.
“Preparations are underway for the transfer of Wagner PMC (private military company) heavy military equipment to the active units of the Russian Armed Forces,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram.
Separately, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it closed the criminal case opened against Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, according to a statement released to journalists by the FSB’s Center for Public Relations.
On June 24, Wagner accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking its fighters, after which Prigozhin declared “A March of Justice” and crossed the Ukrainian border into the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, intending to march toward Moscow.
The FSB qualified Wagner’s actions as “an armed rebellion” and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while President Vladimir Putin called Wagner’s uprising an act of “treason.”
Prigozhin and his fighters later decided to turn back “to avoid bloodshed” when they were 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Moscow.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he contributed to the settlement by holding talks with the Wagner’s head, which led to Prigozhin’s decision to accept a de-escalation deal.
Lukashenko says Belarus ready to accommodate Wagner mercenaries on abandoned base: BELTA
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says the country is ready to accomodate Wagner troops on an abondoned base, according to a report by the country’s state news agency Belta.
“We offered them one of the abandoned military bases. Please – we have a fence, we have everything – put up your tents,” Lukashenko said.
Under a deal brokered by Lukashenko late on Saturday that ended a mutiny by the Wagner fighters, they were allowed either to join Russia’s regular armed forces, move with their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin into exile in Belarus, or simply return to their families
Lukashenko also added that there were no plans to open any Wagner recruitment centres in Belarus.
Wagner chief is in Belarus: Lukashenko
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirms that the Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is in the country, according to Belarus’s’ local media outlet Belta.
Under a deal mediated by Lukashenko on Saturday that ended a mutiny in Russia by the Wagner fighters, Prigozhin was meant to move to Belarus, while his men were given the choice of joining him or being integrated into Russia’s regular armed forces.
Lukashenko also said his defence minister, Viktor Khrennikov, had told him he would not mind having a unit like Wagner in the Belarusian army. The Belarusian leader instructed Khrennikov to negotiate with Prigozhin on the matter.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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