Russia says country's combat abilities unaffected by Wagner insurgency

Official says military has enough manpower to replace mercenary force’s mutineers and is not planning a new mobilization

MOSCOW, Russia — There is no need for further mobilization in Russia to replace Wagner troops who have left the battlefield in Ukraine after a short-lived mutiny, state media said on Monday, quoting a defense official.

Last month the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in a rebellion against Russia’s top military brass in a huge embarrassment for the Kremlin.

Prigozhin later abandoned his advance on Moscow and struck a deal with the Kremlin under which he accepted exile in neighboring Belarus.

“There is no threat at all regarding a drop in the combat potential, both in the mid-term and long-term perspective,” Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, was quoted as saying by the state-backed TASS news agency.

“At the time of the (attempted) rebellion, there were no Wagner PMC employees at the forefront, they were all in camps,” he added.

“As for replacing them (Wagner PMC) in the reserve, there is something and someone to replace them with.”

Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, on August 24, 2018 (CC BY, Wikipedia)

After sending troops to Ukraine in February, 2022, President Vladimir Putin in September ordered a “partial” military call-up to boost regular forces in the first military mobilization in Russia since World War II.

Hundreds of thousands of men have been drafted, while tens of thousands more have fled abroad.

On June 13, before the Wagner rebellion, Putin told reporters there was “no such need” for any additional mobilization.

The Wagner group played a key role in the capture of several eastern Ukrainian towns, including Bakhmut, after a mass recruitment drive in Russia.

Putin has insisted that the mutineers did not galvanize support during their rebellion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on monitors as he addresses the nation after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, called for armed rebellion and reached the southern city of Rostov-on-Don with his troops, in Moscow, Russia, June 24, 2023. (Pavel Bednyakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

He initially condemned the rebelling Wagner fighters as traitors and vowed tough punishment but after the mutiny was halted, Putin allowed the fighters to go back to their homes, join the regular army or go into exile in Belarus.

A top Russian propagandist on Sunday accused the Wagner boss of going “off the rails” after receiving billions in public funds, as Moscow’s new narrative takes shape in the wake of the brief mutiny.