Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has resurfaced in his first video since leading a botched uprising against the Kremlin — saying he is again recruiting “heroic warriors” to make “Russia even greater.”
The unverified video, showing the 62-year-old mercenary dressed in camouflage and brandishing an assault-style rifle, popped up on Telegram channels tied to Prigozhin’s private army Monday.
Prigozhin says that his paramilitary group is recruiting “heroic warriors” to “fulfill the tasks that were set.”
The Russian warlord’s comments and some social media posts on pro-Wagner forums suggested the video was shot somewhere in Africa, with Prigozhin saying that the 122-degree temperatures are “as we like.”
“The Wagner PMC (private military company) makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa – even more free,” Prigozhin says in the video, which includes a phone number for interested recruits.
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin posted his first video address since leading a short-lived mutiny in late June. TELEGRAM / @ razgruzka_vagnera/AFP via Getty Images
Members of the Wagner Group military company guard an area as others load their tanks onto a truck on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. AP
Prigozhin says Wagner is recruiting people and the group “will fulfill the tasks that were set.” REUTERS“Justice and happiness — for the African nations, we’re making life a nightmare for ISIS and al Qaeda and other bandits,” he continues.
All Eyes on Wagner, an open-source research group, reported Saturday that a plane linked to Prigozhin had landed in the Mali capital of Bamako.
Wagner Group has been present in Mali since at least 2021, when a local military junta hired the Russian mercenaries after ejecting French troops and UN peacekeepers from the country.
UN sanctions monitors alleged in a report earlier this month that Malian troops and Wagner fighters have been spreading terror and violence in the African country, including executing at least 500 villagers last year. Wagner and Malian soldiers have denied those claims.
Prigozhin has kept a relatively low profile since leading a short-lived mutiny on June 23 that was aimed at toppling Russia’s top military brass over their handling of the war in Ukraine, where Wagner fighters suffered heavy losses while leading the battle for Bakhmut in the east.
The failed rebellion posed the most serious threat to President Vladimir Putin’s 23-year grip on power.
Under a peace deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to lay down his arms in exchange for pardons for him and his fighters and permission to go into exile to Belarus.
Putin labeled Prigozhin a “traitor” as his fighters were marching on Moscow, but the criminal case against the warlord was later dropped – and he was even handed back his confiscated arsenal of weapons and more than $111 million in cash and gold bars.
Just days after the insurrection, Putin held a three-hour meeting with Prigozhin and Wagner Group members at the Kremlin, where the president offered the mercenaries to continue fighting in Ukraine under the leadership of a senior commander.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a return to constitutional order in Niger, according to reports. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The social media clip suggests that it was shot in Africa. TELEGRAM / @ razgruzka_vagnera/AFP via Getty ImagesIn an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant last month, Putin claimed that Prigozhin unilaterally rejected his offer on behalf of his fighters, who he said seemed willing to accept his terms.
Since the mutiny, some Wagner fighters have moved to Belarus and started training the army there.
A video in July apparently showed Prigozhin in Belarus but he was photographed after that on the sidelines of a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.
With Post wires
