Wagnerites starts transferring heavy weapons to Russian Defence Ministry

Russian media outlets have reported that the Wagner PMC has begun preparations to transfer heavy military equipment to Russian Ministry of Defence units.

Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet

Details: The Russian Ministry of Defence has reported that preparations are underway to transfer heavy military equipment from the Wagner PMC to active units of the Russian Armed Forces. 

Russian armed groups must sign a contract by 1 July with the Russian Ministry of Defence. All Russian "volunteer units" must sign such a contract "in order to increase the effectiveness of their use" in the war in Ukraine. This means that they will be subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

This contract has already been signed by Kadyrovites. The leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, refused to sign a contract with the regular army.

On 23 June, Prigozhin announced a mutiny and "marched" on Moscow with his army, but a day later, the mercenary leader abandoned his plans and said that the Wagner PMC forces had decided to turn around for two reasons: "they did not want to shed Russian blood" and "they were going to demonstrate their protest, and not to overthrow the government in the country".

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin offered the Wagnerites a choice of either signing a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry, joining other armed groups, or moving to Belarus, where they would set up a training ground for Prigozhin's mercenaries.

Background:

• On the evening of 23 June, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagner mercenaries’ rear camps. He therefore deployed 25,000 of his mercenaries "to restore justice".
• In an emergency address on 24 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was "fighting for survival" and that attempts were being made to "organise a rebellion" in the country.
• Ukrainian intelligence had information that Putin had urgently left Moscow for his residence in Valdai.
• Prigozhin claimed that he had allegedly reached an agreement through the intermediary of Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed Belarusian President and would go to Belarus and ordered all his mercenaries to turn back. It was promised that the criminal case against Prigozhin in Russia would be closed, and he was to "go to Belarus". 
• According to Russian pro-war media and Telegram channels, during the rebellion, the Wagnerites shot down an Il-22M aircraft (command post) and six Russian army helicopters, killing 13 to 20 people. Also in Russia, 19 houses and roads were damaged by the march of Prigozhin's private army.

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