The head of the Wagner PMC group under the Russian Guard was probably Prigozhin’s son.
Large units of the Wagner private military unit were probably assimilated into the command structure of the Russian Guard and resumed active recruitment.
This is stated in the report of the British Ministry of Defense.
It is noted that as of the end of October 2023, large units of the Wagner PMC were redistributed to the command structure of the Russian Guard and resumed active recruitment.
“This Wagner unit within the Russian Guard is likely led by Pavel Prigozhin, the son of the late Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin,” the review says.
According to British intelligence, other Wagner militant groups have joined another Russian PIC, Redut, which currently has 7,000 fighters, according to a Radio Free Europe investigation.
In addition, on November 1, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced that doctors from the Wagner PMC had joined the Chechen special unit Akhmat. Earlier, on October 25, Kadyrov said that 170 former Wagner militants had already transferred to Akhmat.
“Russia is now exercising more direct control over the activities of the Wagner PMC and former personnel following the mutiny in July 2023 and the subsequent death of the Wagner leadership in August 2023,” the intelligence officers note.
Representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andrey Yusov noted that all conventional “PMCs” are inseparable components of the Russian special services or military structures in general. Russia is using mercenaries from the Redut PMC to intensify assault operations in Ukraine. However, this is not such a large-scale project as the former Wagner PMC.
The Main Intelligence Directorate explained that this is, to a certain extent, a hybrid tool that allows one to avoid overt statistics on losses, in particular, it allows one to continue recruitment, recruiting and mobilization activities.
“Again, without once again disturbing public sentiment, which is what the authorities are afraid of. This allows, including the Kremlin leaders, in fact, to resolve issues with potentially dangerous, unreliable, dissenting elements. Well, in the end, the history of the Wagner PMC is also quite eloquent,” Yusov said.
Intelligence also clarified that the new VAT includes mercenaries and criminals. However, this is a smaller-scale project than the Wagner PMC during the time of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane crashed in the Tver region of Russia on August 23, 2023. At the crash site they found a crashed plane with the tail number of a business jet, in which the owner of the Wagner PMC usually flew.
10 bodies were found at the crash site. Later, Russian authorities assured that everyone had been identified. In particular, among the dead are Prigozhin, as well as the commander of the Wagner PMC, Dmitry Utkin, and other leaders of the Wagnerites.
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