The pressure on Wagner increases with the entry of Chechens into the Russian army

A few hours after the head of the Russian mercenaries Wagner’s groupYevgeny Prigozhin announced his intention to disobey Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s order that all paramilitary formations must join the army before July 1 and sign a corresponding military “voluntary” contract with the ministry, Chechen mercenary unit Ajmat he signed on Monday his inclusion in the Armed Forces of the Kremlin.

They were the first paramilitaries to comply with Shojgu’s request, thus putting Prigozhin in a difficult situation. The Akhmat detachment, named after the late father of the current Chechen leader, operated as a unit outside the Russian army, but directly subordinate to the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. His men are currently fighting in Ukraine, on the Donetsk front.

In the morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense published on its website a video of the moment in which General Alexei Kim, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Army, and the Director of the Chechen Special Operations School Adam Dashayev, on behalf of Ajmat, signed the contract on the integration of these Chechen fighters into the Russian troops. .

It is specified that the initialed document “defines the legal regulations and activities of the Ajmat volunteer units in the area of ​​Special Military Operations, as well as the extension of social protection and support measures established by the state to volunteers and your families”. “I hope that in the future, after our first experience, other volunteer units will sign such contracts,” Kim said. Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolay Pankov warned on Sunday that all “volunteer detachments” must sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense before July 1. The corresponding order was signed by Šojga. It is about regulating the position of paramilitary organizations, which are banned in Russia. “The contracts must be signed by July 1, which will give the volunteer formations the necessary legal status, create common approaches for organizing comprehensive support and fulfilling their tasks,” the text of the ministerial order states.

But Prigogine convinced that will “never” sign any contract with Shojgu. He said that “Wagner is absolutely and completely subordinated to the interests of the Russian Federation and directly to the Supreme Commander,” President Vladimir Putin wrote on his Telegram channel. According to Prigozhin, “most military units are not as effective as the Wagners, and this is because Shoigu is not able to manage military formations normally”. The conflict between Prigozhin and Shoigu dates back to months due to, according to the Wagners, a shortage of ammunition and weapons on the battlefield in Bakhmut, which led to a large number of casualties in the Russian ranks. Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, has ruled Chechnya since 2007 and is the son of former president Akhmat Kadyrov, who was killed in a 2004 bombing.