Wagner Group Not Recruiting Fighters, May Do So In Future: Mercenary Chief

The future of Wagner and Prigozhin has been unclear since he led a short mutiny against the Russian defence establishment in late June and the Kremlin said he and some of his fighters would leave for Belarus.

Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a voice message published on Monday that his Wagner group was not currently recruiting fighters but was likely to do so in future.

The future of Wagner and Mr Prigozhin has been unclear since he led a short mutiny against the Russian defence establishment in late June and the Kremlin said he and some of his fighters - who have fought in some of the fiercest battles of the Ukraine war - would leave for Belarus.

Despite that, Mr Prigozhin attended a meeting with Putin five days after the mutiny and was photographed last week in St Petersburg, where President Vladimir Putin was hosting African leaders.