Despite Mutiny, Russian Private Military Contractor Wagner Group Continues Recruiting Fighters

The Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor, is still recruiting fighters despite a recent mutiny that led to fears of civil war.

Using a Russian phone number, a BBC reporter called more than a dozen recruitment centers and spoke to several people who confirmed that it was business as usual.

The recruitment centers are based at fight clubs and martial arts schools, and new members are signing contracts with the mercenary group itself, not the Russian defense ministry.

The demand for the mercenaries to transfer to the defense ministry was at the root of the mutiny, and yet the criminal case against the mutineers has been dropped, and the leader of the Wagner Group has been allowed to go free.

The group's salary remains generous, and the contracts are for six months.

The practicalities of Wagner's survival are unclear, but the group's recruitment drive continues.

A member of the Wagner group, a private military contractor reportedly connected to Russian intelligence, hinted that they would protect Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ahead of the country's parliamentary elections.

The suggestion was made in a video posted on Telegram, where the member, going by the call-sign "Brest," also suggested that the group could protect Lukashenko from protests against his authoritarian rule.

However, there is no evidence that Wagner fighters are moving to Belarus, and the situation remains the same for now.

Recruitment for fighting in Ukraine is still ongoing in Saratov, central Russia.