Kremlin considers how to bring private military group under its control: US, Western officials
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Among possible options, officials say, are absorbing Wagner into the Defence Ministry or its military intelligence arm.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – The Kremlin is considering options on bringing the private military group Wagner under its direct control after the presumed death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin,
Among those possibilities, officials say, are absorbing Wagner into the Defence Ministry or its military intelligence arm, GRU. The Kremlin could also install a Russian general or other government ally as its new chief, according to people briefed on the preliminary intelligence.
Officials stressed that the future of Wagner, which Russia depended on as a parallel fighting force in Ukraine until it fell out of the Kremlin’s favour after a short-lived mutiny in June,
Still, US officials said the Kremlin believes the organisation’s military prowess, experienced operators and ties to African governments are too valuable to give up or allow to wither away.
A plane believed to be carrying Mr Prigozhin crashed last Wednesday, Russian, US and European officials have said.
US officials said the plane appeared to have been downed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as revenge for Mr Prigozhin’s aborted mutiny.
He had sent a column of mercenaries towards Moscow in an attempt to oust the leadership of the Defence Ministry. US officials believe an explosion aboard the plane, possibly a bomb, brought down the plane.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Kremlin appeared not to have made any final decisions on what to do with Wagner and, as a result, the intelligence picture was evolving.
No matter what option the Kremlin chooses, US and Western officials said, there are myriad challenges for the Russian government.
If the Kremlin tries to absorb Wagner into the GRU or the broader Ministry of Defence, a major question would be whether veteran Wagner mercenaries would trust or even accept any sort of government takeover. A mass exodus could follow.
Pentagon officials say that under Mr Prigozhin, Wagner forces were Russia’s most effective combat forces on the battlefield in Ukraine, notably in the fight to seize the city of Bakhmut in the east. But Wagner forces have since withdrawn from Ukraine, and most have relocated to Belarus.
“For all intents and purposes, their combat effectiveness has been diminished. And they are no longer a significant factor when it comes to the conflict inside Ukraine,” the Pentagon spokesman, Brigadier-General Patrick Ryder, told reporters last Thursday. NYTIMES
