Last Updated: July 03, 2023, 12:03 IST
Russian servicemen guard an area standing in front of a tank in a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023. (Image: AP)
Last month the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in a rebellion against Russia’s top military brass
There is no need for further mobilisation in Russia to replace Wagner troops who have left the battlefield in Ukraine after a short-lived mutiny, state media said on Monday, quoting a defence official.
Last month the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in a rebellion against Russia’s top military brass in a huge embarrassment for the Kremlin.
Prigozhin later abandoned his advance on Moscow and struck a deal with the Kremlin under which he accepted exile in neighbouring Belarus.
“There is no threat at all regarding a drop in the combat potential, both in the mid-term and long-term perspective,” Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defence Committee, was quoted as saying by the state-backed TASS news agency.
“At the time of the (attempted) rebellion, there were no Wagner PMC employees at the forefront, they were all in camps,” he added.
“As for replacing them (Wagner PMC) in the reserve, there is something and someone to replace them with.”
After sending troops to Ukraine in February, 2022, President Vladimir Putin in September ordered a “partial” military call-up to boost regular forces in the first military mobilisation in Russia since World War II.
Hundreds of thousands of men have been drafted, while tens of thousands more have fled abroad.
On June 13, before the Wagner rebellion, Putin told reporters there was “no such need” for any additional mobilisation.
The Wagner group played a key role in the capture of several eastern Ukrainian towns, including Bakhmut, after a mass recruitment drive in Russia.
Putin has insisted that the mutineers did not galvanise support during their rebellion.
He initially condemned the rebelling Wagner fighters as traitors and vowed tough punishment but after the mutiny was halted, Putin allowed the fighters to go back to their homes, join the regular army or go into exile in Belarus.
A top Russian propagandist on Sunday accused the Wagner boss of going “off the rails” after receiving billions in public funds, as Moscow’s new narrative takes shape in the wake of the brief mutiny.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)
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