Prigozhin refused to reformat the military company
The military chronicle of the Wagner PMC seems to have been archived. At least in the form and format in which this private military company existed before June 24, 2023. The story of President Putin, published in Kommersant, about how the “debriefing” with the PMC command staff took place on June 29, following the results of those events, published in Kommersant, was helped to draw such a conclusion, for which no one has yet given a final legal formulation. Whether it was a rebellion, or someone's madness.
On the eve of the publication of a recording of a conversation with the president about the fate of the Wagner PMC, the Russian Defense Ministry disseminated information about the completion of the transfer of Wagner weapons and equipment to the Russian Armed Forces. The figure was announced impressive — 2 thousand units of weapons: tanks T-90, T-80, T-72B3; multiple launch rocket systems «Grad», «Uragan»; anti-aircraft missile and gun systems «Pantsir»; self-propelled artillery 2S1 «Carnation» 122 mm, 2S3 «Acacia» 152 mm, 2S5 «Hyacinth» 152 mm, 2S4 «Tulip» 240 mm. And also howitzers and anti-tank guns, mortars, armored tractors, armored personnel carriers, cars, small arms.
20,000 small arms were also transferred. If we take into account that the number of Wagners at the end of the battles for Artemovsk (Bakhmut) in May of this year, experts estimated at 20-25 thousand people, then it turns out that the entire private Wagner army was disarmed, handing over personal weapons — machine guns, pistols .
Despite this information, no one has yet spoken about the liquidation of PMCs as a class. On the contrary, it was reported about some «positive» movements of the founder of the company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, then to Belarus. It was reported from the field that the points for the recruitment of candidates for the «Wagnerites» continue to work throughout the country. It seems that there was also a training camp for «musicians» in one of the new regions of Russia. And different information came from Belarus about the possible future of PMCs. For example, about the fact that its fighters will become instructors for the Belarusian army.
A short retelling of the president about a three-hour conversation with the commanders of the Wagner PMC, as presented by the journalist, dotted the i's. It became clear that there would be no reformatting of the Wagner PMC, which would make it possible to exclude relapses on June 24. And the blame for this lies entirely with Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to the president, it was Prigozhin who answered “no” to the proposal to conclude contracts with the Ministry of Defense for the “Wagnerites” and serve the Motherland on these terms.
Moreover, Prigogine did this single-handedly, immediately for the entire council of commanders. Although, as the president noted, many of the 35 Wagner commanders who were present with him at the meeting in the Kremlin agreed with the logic of the president's reasoning.
The President put an end to fortune-telling about the future fate of the Wagners, pointing out to the correspondent that there is no such concept in Russian legislation as a “private military company”. The president's words can be interpreted as follows: until there is a legislative norm in Russia regulating the legal status of PMCs, there will be no more Wagners.
When required, we adopt laws quickly. There are many examples of this. Well, other legislative initiatives have not been implemented for decades. There are even more examples. Just the legislative vacuum seems to have played a cruel joke on Prigozhin's PMC. This structure acted outside the legal field.
The state, in its own interests, shared a little monopoly on the use of force with a private trader. June 24, 2023 showed what this could lead to, and it is unlikely that the authorities will ever want to repeat the failed experiment.
Unfortunately, there is a huge situational minus in the story with the Wagner PMC. A 20,000-strong army of skilled attack aircraft would be very useful today in the NVO zone, when, after repelling the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the task of completely liberating new Russian regions and forcing Kiev to peace on our terms will inevitably arise. Now all these tasks will have to be solved by the Russian army without private military assistance.