Prigozhin ordered a vacation for the mercenaries of the Wagner group until the beginning of August

Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his mercenaries to leave before early August after a failed uprising last June, a Russian journalist said, one of the commanders of a private military company.

“We all went on vacation until the beginning of August, there are many tasks ahead that need to be solved, so Evgeny Viktorovich [Prigozhin] I decided to give everyone a break,” Anton Elizarov told journalist Timofey Yermakov, according to military blogging Telegram accounts updated this Saturday.

“Personally, for five years I have not gone to sea with my family, other people are now also immersed in family affairs. To give everyone the opportunity to take a break from the great work that we have to do, such a decision was made by the board of commanders [do Grupo Wagner]”, – said the military, known as “Lotus”.

The conversation took place in a confectionery in southern Russia, where the journalist accidentally met Elizarov. The commander explained that after the holidays, work will begin on the transfer of mercenaries to Belarus within the framework of an agreement signed with the Kremlin through the mediation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to prevent an armed rebellion in exchange for annulment of the criminal case. .

“First, we need to infuse new blood. The second and most difficult thing is access to Belarus. We have to prepare bases, training camps, coordinate with local governments and administrations, organize interaction with Belarusian law enforcement agencies and arrange logistics,” he continued.

“There is a lot of work, and the tasks are not easy, but the more difficult the task, the more interesting it is. I think we can handle them,” said Elizarov.

This week, Lukashenka said that Prigozhin, who was supposed to go into exile in Belarus, is in St. Petersburg, and his mercenaries are at their bases in Russia.

According to the Belarusian leader, the problem of the transfer of mercenaries has not yet been resolved and the military company has a “different” vision of its future mission, which will consist in training and advising the army.

In any case, he said, relations with the Wagner group and Belarus would be determined by law or a presidential decree.

The Wagner commander also said that he was monitoring the situation in Ukraine and was “concerned about what is happening.”

“But when they don’t listen to you, they ignore all suggestions and ways to solve problems, even when we talk about it with the whole world, so it’s probably better to step aside and see what’s happening from the outside,” said Lotos.

“Although it is very disappointing and painful when there are proposals and opportunities for solving the problem, and they are discarded, as our wise ancestors used to say, we’ll wait and see. And we will stand aside and silently watch,” he continued. .

However, he noted that if the Russian people call on the mercenaries to help the Motherland, they are ready to do it.

The Wagner group, led by Prigozhin, mutinied on the night of June 23-24 with the unopposed capture of the Russian city of Rostov, the headquarters of the Army’s Southern Command, with the intention of marching on Moscow to eliminate the military leaders in response to an alleged mercenary bombing in Ukraine.

In the midst of a conflict with the Kremlin and 200 kilometers from the Moscow province, on the afternoon of June 24, after the mediation of the President of Belarus, the military column of the Wagner group turned around, agreeing to end the rebellion, an amnesty for mercenaries and sending Prigozhin and some of his people into exile in Belarus , and others the opportunity to integrate into the regular troops of Russia.

The Wagner Group has been at the forefront since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022, having played a leading role in the conquest of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk province (east), in the longest and bloodiest battle of this war at the cost of heavy losses against the backdrop of open accusations of Prigozhin in the absence military support from Moscow.