Wagner head says 'no plans' for recruitment unless shortage of personnel

ISTANBUL

The head of the Wagner paramilitary group said on Monday there were no plans to recruit new personnel “as long as we do not experience a shortage.”

“However, we will be extremely grateful to you if you keep in touch with us, and as soon as the Motherland needs to create a new ‘group’ that will be able to protect the interests of our country, we will certainly start recruiting,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio statement shared by pro-Wagner channels on Telegram.

Prigozhin, who was spotted in St. Petersburg during last week's Africa-Russia summit, said Wagner continued its activities in Africa and in a training center in Belarus.

“Today we are defining our next tasks, the outline of which is becoming more and more clearly drawn. Undoubtedly, these are tasks that will be carried out in the name of the greatness of Russia,” Prigozhin said.

He added there were no restrictions on Wagner fighters being transferred to "other power structures" of Russia, expressing that some agreed to do so.

Prigozhin on June 24 accused the Russian Defense Ministry of attacking the group’s fighters, declared a “March of Justice” and set off toward Moscow.

The Russian Federal Security Service designated the group’s action “an armed rebellion” and opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, while President Vladimir Putin called the private military company's uprising an act of “treason.”

Prigozhin later turned back “to avoid bloodshed,” and an agreement with Putin was negotiated through Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Before joining Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine, Wagner had been working for some time in several African countries including the Central African Republic and Mali.