The new leader of Wagner confirmed the integration of the group with the Russian Guard

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former Wagner leader, died in a plane crash from Moscow to St. Petersburg last August. Photo: Prigozhin’s press service/AP

“We are building a camp so that new units [volunteer detachment]) that will be formed, which will be part of the volunteer corps of the National Guard of Russia [Rosgvardia], can arrive and settle,” Mr. Elizarov, who goes by the call sign «Lotus», said.

British intelligence officials said Wagner's new base, known as the «Cossack camps», is «almost certainly» located in Rostov-on-Don, a southern Russian city occupied by the group during a brief coup attempt last June.

Anton Elizarov, the new leader of the Wagner group, is a veteran of Wagner's campaigns in Ukraine, Syria and Africa

“The Russian state has most likely authorized the construction of a new Wagner base and very likely understands that by subordinating Wagner to the Russian Guard, it has eliminated any potential the threat that Wagner could pose to the security of the Russian regime,” the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily issue on Wednesday. updated intelligence information.

“The Russian Guard is probably preparing a new formation of a volunteer corps from experienced Wagner employees to strengthen Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine and expand Russian influence in Africa,” the Ministry of Defense added.

The fighters of the paramilitary group left Ukraine for Belarus for training of the armed forces of Russian protectorates in July last year as part of an agreement to end the armed uprising led by Prigozhin.

Smoke and flames rise from the crashed private plane in which Yevgeny Prigozhin died. Photo: AP Photo

Private jet carrying 62 passengers A month later, the two-year-old military leader crashed on a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing him and his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin.

Shortly after their deaths, according to unconfirmed Russian reports, Mr. Elizarov, the Group was led by Utkin's former deputy, who commanded the Wagner operation in Bakhmut.

Vladimir Putin also ordered the group's fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state — a move aimed at seizing its combat capabilities and business operations in Africa.

Mr. Elizarov is a seasoned veteran of the Wagner campaigns in Ukraine, Syria, Mali and the Central African Republic.

He has been sanctioned by the European Union. Union for leading the Wagner unit responsible for the capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar near Bakhmut in January 2023.