The Russian Defense Ministry wants volunteer groups and mercenary companies to come under the control of the Army through contracts. Oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin has already refused to sign a document that would strip him of control of his Wagner Group, the mercenary company that led the capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Those who have signed this Monday are the Chechen special forces Ajmat, a paramilitary body created by the leader of that region and ally of the Kremlin, Ramzán KadÃrov.
On June 10, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered that any detachment of volunteers, of which there are more than 40, including mercenary groups, be integrated into the Russian Armed Forces before July 1 by means of a contract that legalize your situation, like the rest of professional soldiers.
According to Defense, the formalization of contracts will give the volunteer detachments the necessary legal status. In addition, it will allow creating uniform approaches for all combat forces, which means an increase in their effectiveness on the battlefield. It will also allow Moscow to exercise control over private armies fighting in Ukraine alongside the Russians.
But Shoigu’s order has been a new reason for confrontation between the Ministry of Defense and Prigozhin, which coincides with the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
During the fighting to seize the Bakhmut enclave, Prigozhin repeatedly accused that department and the military command of denying him the ammunition necessary for his mercenaries fighting in Ukraine to advance more quickly and effectively.
Yevgeny Prigozhin assured on Sunday that he refuses to sign this contract. According to him, Shoigu “cannot adequately manage military formations.” And he maintained that his mercenary group is an independent and “highly effective” structure. He stressed, however, that Wagner is “completely subservient to the interests of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since last November, the volunteers have been equated to the military, so they receive the same benefits and guarantees. As the Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday, the contract it signed with Akhmat, sometimes called “Kadyrov’s private army”, defines the legal regulation and activities of volunteer units in combat zones. In addition, it extends to volunteers and their families the social protection and support measures established by the State.
The agreement was signed by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Alexei Kim; and Adam Dasháyev, director of the Russian University of Special Forces, created in 2013 in Chechnya at the initiative of KadÃrov.
“I hope that in the future, looking at our first experience, the rest of the volunteer units will also sign such contracts,” Kim said after the signing.
Although last year the head of Chechnya also criticized the military high command after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in recent months he has avoided publicly showing disagreements with the Defense Ministry. On the contrary, recently members of Wagner and Ajmat have criticized each other.
The commander of the Akhmat forces, Apti Alaudinov, also participated in the signing. According to him, he said, the unit “has trained and sent tens of thousands of volunteers” to Ukraine in the last 15 months. He explained that Ajmat receives most of the weapons and equipment from the Ministry, so it makes sense to legally regulate this situation.
According to Moscow, this group is currently carrying out an offensive near the city of Marinka, in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine.