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Prigozhin: Wagner Shifts Focus to Africa and Belarus, Pauses Fighter Recruitment

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Head of Wagner Mercenary Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced in an audio message released by a Wagner-linked Telegram account that the group will continue its operations in Africa and Belarus but is currently not actively recruiting new fighters. Prigozhin stated that the majority of Wagner fighters are currently on leave due to a period of intense work. The group is in the process of determining its future objectives, which will be undertaken for the benefit of Russia.

While the group remains operational in Africa and maintains training centers in Belarus, Prigozhin did not provide specific details. Wagner is known for its presence in various African regions and its involvement in training Belarusian territorial defense forces. However, he emphasized that they do not plan to recruit new personnel at present. Nonetheless, if the country requires a new group to safeguard its interests, Wagner will initiate recruitment.

Prigozhin also mentioned that some fighters from the group have opted to transfer to other Russian power structures, a move that the group does not restrict. In June, Wagner fighters participated in a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, and in the aftermath of the failed mutiny, President Vladimir Putin invited non-participating Wagner fighters to sign contracts with the Russian defense ministry.

In recent developments, on Monday morning, four people were killed in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, following Russian missile strikes. A drone attack was also reported in Russia’s border region of Bryansk, with a police station being hit. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin accused Ukraine of the drone attack on the Russian capital, resulting in damage to two office blocks. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that war was returning to Russia, and attacks on Russian territory were a natural consequence of the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

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Prisoners of war from Ukraine’s ‘Azov regiment’ are on trial in Russia.

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Eight women are among the 22 Ukrainian POWs accused by Russia of belonging to a “terrorist group.”

More than 20 Ukrainian troops who were captured during the months-long fight to protect Mariupol from Moscow’s forces have gone on trial in southern Russia.

The kidnapped soldiers were members of the Azov regiment, an elite Ukrainian armed forces unit that fought Russian troops for months in Mariupol, a seaport on the Sea of Azov.

After a three-month war in which much of Mariupol was destroyed, the surviving Ukrainian troops, who had bunkered within a massive steel plant, surrendered to Russian forces in May 2022.

The court in Russia’s southern Rostov-on-Don began hearing cases against Azov members on Wednesday, a military force that Russia has branded as a “terrorist group.”

The Azov Regiment, a former volunteer unit with far-right roots that was officially incorporated into Ukraine’s army, was declared a “terrorist” group by Russia’s Supreme Court in August of last year.

The verdict by Russia’s Supreme Court allows for lengthy jail sentences for Azov members who have been charged by Russian authorities of harbouring neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs.

Eight of the 22 defendants on trial are women. Photographs obtained inside the courthouse on Wednesday showed the Ukrainian troops, who were pale and emaciated, with their heads shaved close, sat behind a glass panel.

The defendants are accused of being members of a terrorist group and participating in actions to destabilise the Russia-backed authorities in the Donetsk area. If convicted, they risk jail terms ranging from 15 years to life.

According to the Red Cross, it has visited 1,500 prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), such visits are critical for inspecting custody facilities, passing information between inmates and loved ones, and distributing sanitary products.

So far, the ICRC and its allies have carried around 2,500 personal letters between POWs and their families in the Ukraine crisis and assisted approximately 5,500 families in obtaining information on the fate of their loved ones in the fight.

“The impact is… immeasurable for the prisoners of war and their families who have been able to share news,” Ariane Bauer, ICRC’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, told reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused the Red Cross of failing to exert sufficient pressure on Russian soldiers to provide access to Ukrainian servicemen seized by Russian forces.

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Syrians used as mercenaries in Nagorno-Karabakh war

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In a shocking report, it is revealed that Syrians were used in the Nagorno-Karabakh war by the European country of Azerbaijan as mercenaries.

The report says that the Syrian mercenaries were recruited at the behest of Turkey. While speaking to media personals, one of those who has been recruited for the war from Syria has reveled that they were cheated by promising lucrative jobs in Azerbaijan. He has alleged that he was promised the job of guard.

There are reports that Armenia also recruited Syrian mercenaries like Azerbaijan. As per the reports, the recruitment process was handled by Russia.

Unsurprisingly, both Russia and Turkey have denounced the reports suggesting their involvement in the recruitment activity.

Likewise, both Azerbaijan and Armenia have declined to accept that they used Syrian mercenaries in the battle for the disputed territory situated between them.

Notably, earlier, there were allegations that Syrians were used in the Libyan civil war.

As per a latest report, at present a recruitment program is going on in Syria for Venezuela.

It is unfortunate that the people of Syrian who were devastated by the Civil War are being exploited.

It is high time to find a solution to the issue.        

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