Wagner Still Recruiting Fighters After Failed Mutiny – Reports

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary outfit continues to recruit fighters despite his exile in Belarus following a short-lived mutiny last weekend, according to multiple media reports.  “Everything’s the same as before, for now. Nothing’s changed,” a recruiter for Wagner in the central Russian city of Saratov told the BBC. “Nothing has stopped, we’re still recruiting,” said…

Russian Media Publisher Sentenced to 8 Years in Absentia Over Bucha Comments

Russian media publisher Ilya Krasilshchik has been sentenced to eight years in prison in absentia over his comments criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the independent Mediazona news website reported Thursday. Krasilshchik, 36, was charged in April 2022 with “spreading fake news about the Russian military motivated by political hatred” over statements about the alleged massacre…

Kremlin Insists Putin Has ‘Astounding’ Support After Mutiny

The Kremlin said Thursday that footage, which could not be verified, apparently showing President Vladimir Putin greeting adoring supporters proved that he has “astounding” support after quelling an armed insurrection. Moscow has insisted that Putin’s long rule has not been weakened after Wagner mercenaries marched hundreds of kilometers — almost reaching Moscow — and captured…

Poland Bolsters Border Defense as Wagner Settles in Nearby Belarus

Poland will strengthen its eastern border with neighboring Belarus as Wagner Group mercenaries relocate to the Moscow-allied country following their failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, Polish officials said Wednesday.  Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Wagner’s expected move to Belarus was “a new and much more difficult stage of [Russia’s] hybrid war,” according…

Russia Labels Independent News Outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe ‘Undesirable’

Russian authorities have added Latvia-based independent Russian news outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe to the country’s list of “undesirable” organizations.  The designation means the outlet must cease all operations inside Russia and makes it a crime to engage with the publication in any way, including sharing its content online. The Prosecutor General’s Office said the decision was…

Kremlin Denies State Role in Wagner’s Africa Businesses

The Russian state played no role in the Wagner mercenary group’s multimillion-dollar business interests in Africa, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued the denial after President Vladimir Putin revealed Tuesday that Russia’s state budget “fully financed” Wagner, detailing sums of 86 billion rubles ($1 billion) spent on upkeep and another 110 billion rubles ($1.3…

Officials Disclose Russian Troop Deaths 1 Month After Cross-Border Incursion

At least 14 Russian troops were killed during a cross-border raid by anti-Kremlin units made up of Russian nationals this month, regional authorities have revealed nearly a month after the incident. Two anti-Kremlin militias fighting on the side of Ukraine staged raids into southwestern Russia’s Belgorod region on June 1. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have repelled…

Senior Russian General Knew About Wagner Leader’s Mutiny Plans – NYT

Updated with Peskov’s comments. Russia’s former top commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, had advanced knowledge of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to topple the country’s military leadership last weekend, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.  “Prigozhin would not have launched his uprising unless he believed that others in positions of…

Putin Reveals Russia Paid $1Bln to Wagner Group in Past Year

Russia’s Wagner private military group received roughly $1 billion in funding from state coffers over the past year, President Vladimir Putin revealed Tuesday. His comments mark a departure from Moscow’s previous denials of any links between the Russian state and Wagner. Speaking after a ceremony thanking soldiers for “stopping civil war” during Wagner’s aborted weekend rebellion,…

Putin Thanks Servicemen for ‘Stopping Civil War’ During Wagner Rebellion

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lauded Russian servicemen and security services for “stopping civil war” during the Wagner mercenary group’s aborted insurgency this weekend. “You have de-facto stopped the civil war, you acted in a clear and well-coordinated manner in a difficult situation,” Putin said at a ceremony on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square. Wagner leader…

Railway Damaged in Russia-Annexed Crimea

A railway in annexed Crimea has been damaged, the fourth such incident on the peninsula’s rail system over the past month and a half, the region’s Russian-installed Governor Sergei Aksyonov said Tuesday. Aksyonov did not identify the cause or nature of the damage, noting only that there were no casualties and that repair works were expected…

Wagner Leader Arriving in Belarus – Lukashenko

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is arriving in Belarus, three days after his failed mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko confirmed Tuesday. “Yes, today he’s in Belarus,” Lukashenko said in comments carried by the state news agency Belta. It was not clear if the Wagner leader had already arrived in Belarus or was still in…

Jailed Anti-War Politician Yashin Responds to Czech President’s Call to Monitor Russian Exiles

Ilya Yashin, a Moscow opposition politician now serving an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence for his criticism of the invasion of Ukraine, on Monday published an appeal to Czech President Petr Pavel, who has said that Russians in the West should be monitored by their host countries. The Moscow Times has translated his message and published it below. To…

Wagner HQ Says Working as Normal Despite Mutiny

The headquarters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a mutiny over the weekend that rattled President Vladimir Putin’s rule, said Monday it was working in “normal mode.” The statement from the office came as the fate of Wagner was uncertain after the rebellion and as Russia appeared to take a business-as-usual approach.  “Despite events…

Wagner Halts Revolt But Putin Seen as Weakened

Wagner mercenaries were headed back to base on Sunday after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin agreed to allow their leader to avoid treason charges and accept exile in Belarus. The agreement ended the immediate threat that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private army could storm Moscow, but analysts said Wagner’s revolt had exposed Putin’s rule as more fragile than had…

Prigozhin’s Insurrection Creates Headaches for Russia-China Alliance, Experts Say

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion against Moscow will have stoked alarm in China and could throw sand in the wheels of the “no-limits” strategic partnership between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, experts said on Sunday. After a 24-hour armed insurrection in which Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries seized control of parts of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don and…

N. Korea Expresses Support for Moscow Over Mutiny

North Korea offered its full support for Russia in dealing with a recent mutiny, state media reported Sunday. At a meeting with the Russian ambassador to Pyongyang Alexander Matsegora, North Korea’s vice foreign minister Im Chon Il “expressed firm belief that the recent armed rebellion in Russia would be successfully put down,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)…

Wagner Chief to Leave Russia in Deal to Ease Crisis

The chief of the rebel Wagner mercenary force will leave Russia and won’t face charges after calling off his troops’ advance on Saturday,  Moscow said, easing Russia’s most serious security crisis in decades. The feud between Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russia’s military brass came to a violent head in the past day, with his forces capturing a key army…

Prigozhin’s Hometown St. Petersburg Mixed on Mercenary Chief’s Armed Rebellion

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Early Saturday morning, law enforcement agents in balaclavas were already guarding the entrance of the PMC Wagner Center, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s headquarters just outside St. Petersburg’s city center.  Some agents were patrolling the parking lot out front while others were already inside, probably searching the building.  “This was supposed to be my…

Putin Speaks to Allies in Belarus, Central Asia Amid Wagner Revolt

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke to his Belarus ally, President Alexander Lukashenko, in his first international phone call since a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries inside Russia began. “The president of Russia called the president of Belarus this morning, there was a phone conversation,” Belarusian state media reported. “Vladimir Putin informed his Belarusian colleague…

How Are Officials, Pro-War Bloggers Reacting to Prigozhin’s Threat Against Russian Defense Ministry?

Russia’s FSB security service on Friday charged the Wagner mercenary group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin with calls to stage “an armed mutiny” after he pledged to resist Moscow’s military leadership. Prigozhin earlier accused Russia of killing a “huge number” of Wagner’s forces in strikes and vowed to retaliate, bringing tensions between Moscow’s conventional military and the…