Wagner's boss refuses to let his mercenaries into Putin's troops

Russia's most powerful mercenary said on Sunday that his Wagner fighters would not sign any contracts with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu Photo: PRIGOGIN'S PRESS SERVICE

Russia's most powerful mercenary said on Sunday his fighters would not sign contracts with the country's defense minister, publicly rejecting the Kremlin's attempt to take control of his fighting force.

Evgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, has repeatedly criticized senior military leadership of Vladimir Putin for what he calls a betrayal of the inability to properly wage war in Ukraine.

Neither Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu nor Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov have publicly commented on the insults of Prigozhin, whose troops took the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in May after a battle that killed tens of thousands of people. /p>

On Saturday, the Ministry of Defense said that Shoigu ordered all «volunteer units» to sign contracts with his ministry before the end of the month, which, according to him, will increase the effectiveness of the Russian army.

Although the ministry does not mentioned Wagner in his public statement, Russian media reported that this was an attempt by Shoigu to subdue the mercenaries.

Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly criticized President Vladimir Putin's top military leadership over their strategy in Ukraine. Photo: PRESS SERVICE "CONCORD&#34 ;/Reuters

“Wagner will not sign any contracts with Shoigu,” Prigozhin said, adding that the order does not apply to Wagner.

Ministry Defense did not respond to a request for comment.< /p>

Prigozhin said that Wagner was completely subordinate to Russian interests, but that his highly effective command structure would be undermined by subordination to Shoigu.

Russian fortifications in southern Ukraine

«Shoigu cannot properly manage military formations,» Prigozhin said. , adding that Wagner coordinated his actions in Ukraine with General Sergei Surovikin, whom the Russian media dubbed «General Armageddon».

The Ministry of Defense stated that in order to increase the effectiveness of «volunteer detachments», all such units or their fighters must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense by July 1.

This did not happen. mentions Wagner by name, but routinely calls Wagner “volunteer assault squads.”

“This will give the volunteer formations the necessary legal status, create unified approaches to organizing integrated support and fulfilling their mission,” the ministry said in a statement.

«These measures will increase the combat capabilities and effectiveness of the armed forces and their volunteer units,» said the deputy defense minister Nikolai Pankov.

Prigozhin said that the ministry could use the failure to comply with the order as an excuse to deprive Wagner of supplies.

“What can happen after this order is that they do not give us weapons and ammunition. We'll figure it out, as they say, — said Prigogine.

— But when the thunder strikes, they will come running and bring weapons and ammunition with a request for help.