The Wagner Group transferred more than 2,000 war equipment and weapons, including barrages and multiple launch missile systems, to the Russian Ministry of Defense after the failed armed mutiny carried out by Russian mercenaries last June. The news was announced this Wednesday by the military spokesman, Igor Konashénkov.
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“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the plan, are completing the acceptance of weapons and military equipment from the units of the Group
Wagner,” the lieutenant general said in a statement.
He explained that Defense received more than 2,000 pieces of equipment and weapons, including hundreds of heavy weapons such as T-90, T-80, T-72B3 tanks, Grad and Uragán multiple launch rocket systems, Pantsir anti-aircraft gun and missile systems, self-propelled artillery 2S1 Gvozdika, Acacia, Hiacinth, Tulip, howitzers and anti-tank missiles.
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Also mortar systems, multipurpose armored vehicles, armored personnel carriers, as well as other vehicles and some 20,000 small arms, Konashenkov said.
Likewise, the mercenaries delivered more than 2,500 tons of various ammunition to the regular Armed Forces, he added.
The Defense spokesman further indicated that among the transferred equipment, dozens of units have never been used on the battlefield. Konashenkov explained that now heavy vehicles, high-capacity self-propelled artillery mounts and tanks will be brought to the rear.
“All equipment and weapons are delivered to the rear areas, where repair and restoration units of the Armed Forces carry out maintenance and preparation for use,” it said.
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The process of transferring the weapons that were in the hands of the Wagnerites in Ukraine began on June 27, three days after the mercenaries led by Yevgueni Prigozhin revolted from southern Russia and reached 200 kilometers from Moscow to avoid its disappearance as a private military company.
An agreement between Prigozhin and the Kremlin mediated by the Belarusian president, Alexandr Lukashenko, managed to stop the armed rebellion. Under the agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the mercenaries three options: return home, go to Belarus, or sign a contract with the Defense Ministry or other security agencies in the country to subordinate themselves to the Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the General Staff, Valeri Gerasimov.
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This meant in practice the dismantling at least in Ukraine of the Group
Wagner, as it was known since it was created in 2014 following the outbreak of the conflict in Donbas, in eastern Ukraine.
As part of the deal, the Kremlin promised the mercenaries and their boss that they would not be prosecuted.
So far it is unknown how many Wagnerites have signed an agreement with Defense, while the latest news from Prigozhin and the mercenaries is that they are on vacation until early August before moving to Belarus to train and advise the Belarusian forces.
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*With EFE
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