Putin wants to keep Wagner group as fighting force, just without Prigozhin: Analysts

Russian Vladimir Putin’s may be harping a different tune as he wants to keep Wagner as a fighting group, however, without its boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, Washington-based think tank Institute of Study of War (ISW) wrote in an assessment over the weakened.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin further indicated he intends to maintain the Wagner Group as a cohesive fighting force rather than breaking it up but seeks to separate Wagner Financier Yevgeny Prigozhin from Wagner leadership and forces,” ISW said.

The assessment is that “Putin claimed that he offered Wagner fighters the option to serve under a Wagner commander (callsign “Seda”) who has commanded Wagner forces for the last 16 months, further confirming ISW’s previous assessment that the Kremlin seeks to retain Wagner as a cohesive fighting force while separating it from Prigozhin.”

When was asked directly about Wagner’s future as a combat unit, Putin continued to maintain the “absurd notion that private military companies (PMCs) do not exist in Russia.”

According to Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the Wagner representatives, who may be redeployed to the territory of Belarus, are exhausted remnants who do not pose a threat to the Armed Forces of Ukraine but can carry out provocations in the border areas of Ukraine to restrain Ukrainian troops and divert reserves, state news agency reported by Ukrinform.

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