Wagner Group continues to recruit mercenaries in Russia despite Prigozhin's statements

Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) continues to recruit mercenaries in Russia, despite the statement of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin about the termination of recruitment, with Africa being the main destination for the trained militants. 

Source: Important Stories, a Russian media outlet 

Details: The journalists found messages in the chat rooms saying that Wagner Group would resume recruiting mercenaries in August. 

One former mercenary, who has already fought in Africa and Ukraine, told the media outlet that recruitment has resumed through the Orthodox sports club Desantnyk (Paratrooper) in Omsk and one of the PMC points in Novosibirsk.

When the correspondent tried to get into the new "wave" of recruitment under the guise of a mercenary, the Omsk Desantnyk refused him, but the Novosibirsk veteran organisation Power Unity of Siberia, which is the official representative of the PMC, said that the new recruitment takes place on Fridays. 

The journalist was offered to come to the office in sneakers and a sports uniform and pass a physical fitness test. In addition, representatives of the Wagner Group warned him that the candidate should not have a criminal record, chronic diseases and arrears on the Federal Bailiffs Service. 

In addition, a potential Wagner mercenary must have a military specialty and a foreign passport since the main direction of recruitment is African countries.

Another mercenary, with whom the correspondent spoke, said that recruitment centres determine the work directions of militants after the selection.

During the conversation with the recruiter, the correspondent was offered to go to the "Special Military Operation zone" without signing a contract with the Russian Defence Ministry from the Redut PMC, associated with Gazprom. [Special Military Operation is a Russian propaganda term for the war in Ukraine – ed.] 

Background:

• On 31 July 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC terrorists, stated that the company had stopped recruiting new mercenaries.
• On the evening of 23 June, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner PMC, said that the Russian regular army launched a missile strike on the rear camps of his PMC, and because of this, 25 thousand mercenaries are going to "restore justice". 
• On 24 June, Wagner mercenaries took the military facilities of Rostov-on-Don under control, captured military facilities in Voronezh, went "to Moscow – and the Russian capital was already prepared for the defence.
• In the evening of the same day, after a conversation with the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said that his mercenaries were returning to the field camps. 
• The FSB reported that the criminal case of armed mutiny against Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner PMC, had been terminated.

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