Wagner Group soldiers will not sign any contracts with Russia’s defence ministry after it issued orders for all independent forces to do so by the end of June.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu gave the directive on Saturday saying all “volunteer detachments” must sign contracts with his ministry by the end of the month – a step intended to increase the effectiveness of the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
Though the ministry did not mention Wagner in its public statement, the Russian media reported it was an attempt by Shoigu to bring the mercenaries to heel after a series of public outbursts by its controversial leader.
“Wagner will not sign any contracts with Shoigu,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, said on Sunday.
The order, he said, did not apply to Wagner.
Prigozhin has repeatedly attacked President Vladimir Putin’s top military brass for what he casts as “treachery” for failing to fight the war in Ukraine properly.
