President Vladimir Putin has ordered Wagner fighters to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after a fatal plane crash is believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of a volatile mercenary group.
Putin signed a decree bringing the changes into effect immediately on Friday after the Kremlin said that Western suggestions that Prigozhin had been killed on his orders were an “absolute lie.”
The Kremlin refused to definitively confirm his death, citing the need to wait for test results.
Russian aviation authorities said Prigozhin was aboard a private jet that crashed Wednesday evening northwest of Moscow with no survivors exactly two months after he led a failed rebellion against the army chief.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the families of those killed in the crash on Thursday and spoke about Prigozhin in the past.
He cited “preliminary information” as indicating that Prigozhin and his key Wagner allies had all been killed and, while praising Prigozhin, said he had also made some “serious mistakes.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) has ordered all soldiers of Yevgeny Prigozhin (L) Wagner to sign allegiance to Russia after his death.AP
Prigozhin, who was the head of the Wagner Group, is believed to have been killed in a plane crash on August 23, 2023.AP
Putin’s introduction of a mandatory oath for Wagner employees and other private military contractors is a clear step to bring such groups under tighter state control.
The decree, published on the Kremlin’s website, obliges anyone carrying out work on behalf of the military or supporting what Moscow calls “special military operations” in Ukraine to swear an oath of allegiance to Russia.
Described in the decree as a move to forge the spiritual and moral foundations of Russia’s defense, the words of the oath include a line in which those who take it promise to strictly obey the orders of commanders and senior leaders.
A makeshift memorial for Prigozhin is seen in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023. REUTERS
Western politicians and commentators have suggested, without presenting evidence, that Putin ordered Prigozhin killed to punish him for launching a June 23-34 rebellion against the military leadership that also represented the biggest challenge to Putin’s own rule since he came to power in 1999.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the accusation and many others like it were false.
“Now there is a lot of speculation about this plane crash and the tragic death of the plane’s passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin. Of course, in the West, all these speculations are presented from a well-known angle,” Peskov told reporters.
A man lays flowers at an informal memorial at a cafe owned by Prigozhin in St. Petersburg, Russia, on August 25, 2023.AP
“All these are absolute lies, and here, when covering this issue, it is necessary to be based on facts. Not many facts yet. They need to be established in the course of the investigation,” he said.
Russian investigators have opened an investigation into what happened but have yet to say what they suspect caused the plane to suddenly fall from the sky.
They have also not officially confirmed the identity of the 10 bodies recovered from the wreckage.
A member of Wagner’s group honored Prigozhin’s memory at a spontaneous memorial in St. Petersburg on August 23, 2023. Artem Priakhin/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Asked whether the Kremlin had received official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death, Peskov said on Friday: “If you listen carefully to the statement of the Russian president, he said that all the necessary tests, including genetic tests, will now be carried out. The official decision – as soon as it is ready to be published, will be published.”
Peskov, who said Putin had not met Prigozhin recently, also said it was unclear how long the tests and investigative work would take.
Therefore it is impossible to start talking about whether Putin will attend Prigozhin’s funeral, Peskov said in response to a question on the matter.
“There is no funeral date yet, it is impossible to talk about it at all. The only thing I can say is that the president has a pretty busy schedule at the moment.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, the former British ambassador to Belarus who is now a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said the funeral would be significant.
“If Putin wanted to emphasize that Prigozhin died a traitor, he would ignore it,” Gould-Davies said.
Members of the Wagner Group military company raise a Russian and Wagner flag over a damaged building in Bakhmut, Ukraine on May 20, 2023.AP
“(Meanwhile) Prigozhin’s supporters could use it as an opportunity to glorify him and his criticism of the Kremlin’s actions in the war — and could strengthen Wagner’s core hostility to the Kremlin,” he said.
British military intelligence said on Friday there was no conclusive evidence that Prigozhin had been on board but that it was “highly likely” he was dead.
The Pentagon said its own initial assessment was that Prigozhin was killed.
Russia’s Baza news newspaper, well-sourced among law enforcement agencies, has reported that investigators are focusing on the theory that one or two bombs may have been planted on the plane.
Asked about the future of the Wagner Group, which has a series of lucrative contracts across Africa and a contingent in Belarus training troops there but now appears leaderless, Kremlin spokesman Peskov was brief.
“I can’t tell you anything right now, I don’t know,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
