Wagner still recruiting despite mutiny, BBC finds

The Wagner Group is inactive recruiting fighters crossed Russia, days aft staging a mutiny that led Vladimir Putin to rise fears of civilian war.

Using a Russian telephone number, we called much than a twelve recruitment centres saying, if asked, that we were inquiring connected behalf of a brother.

All those who replied confirmed that it was concern arsenic usual.

From Kaliningrad successful the westbound to Krasnodar successful the south, no-one believed the radical was being disbanded.

In the Arctic metropolis of Murmansk, a pistillate astatine the Viking sports nine confirmed that she was inactive signing up fighters for Ukraine.

"That's wherever we are recruiting for, yes. If idiosyncratic wants to go, they conscionable person to telephone maine and we'll acceptable a day."

Wagner's agelong database of interaction points are mostly based astatine combat clubs, including martial arts schools and boxing clubs.

Several radical who picked up the telephone stressed that caller members were signing contracts with the mercenary radical itself, not the Russian defence ministry.

"It's perfectly thing to bash with the defence ministry," a antheral astatine the Sparta sports nine successful Volgograd was adamant. "Nothing has stopped, we're inactive recruiting."

The request for the mercenaries to transportation to the defence ministry, frankincense bringing the Wagner Group and its brag Yevgeny Prigozhin to heel, was astatine the basal of the fierce feud that exploded into past weekend's equipped uprising.

It was the biggest situation to President Putin's authorization successful his much than 20-year rule, contempt the Kremlin's scrambling ever since to redefine his effect arsenic beardown and decisive.

And yet the transgression lawsuit against the mutineers has been dropped, successful a state wherever aggregate absorption activists are serving agelong situation sentences conscionable for speaking retired against Russia's warfare connected Ukraine.

Even Wagner's person has been allowed to spell free, seemingly moving to Belarus - though Prigozhin's backstage pitchy was tracked flying backmost to Russia connected Tuesday night.

And his army, which marched connected Moscow and changeable helicopters and a level retired of the sky, has inactive not been disbanded.

"We are working. If thing had changed, they'd person told us. But there's nothing," a pistillate recruiter successful Krasnodar, confederate Russia, was clear.

A Wagner fighter's wage remains a generous 240,000 roubles (£2,175) a month; the contracts are for six months.

On Thursday, the seat of the defence committee successful Russia's parliament said that Prigozhin had been warned earlier that the deadline for Wagner to beryllium subsumed by the defence ministry was non-negotiable.

"The defence ministry said each groups…must motion contracts, and they each began doing that. Everyone but Mr Prigozhin," Andrei Kartapolov commented, referring to his mutiny arsenic an enactment of treason.

"He was informed that Wagner would not enactment successful the Special Military Operation," helium utilized Russia's euphemism for its warfare connected Ukraine. "It besides would get nary financing oregon worldly resources."

Vladimir Putin, who has spent years denying immoderate authoritative nexus to Wagner, made a abrupt U-turn successful the aftermath of this weekend's mutiny. Apparently trying to chopped Yevgeny Prigozhin down to size, helium claimed that the radical was 100% funded by the Russian state.

The practicalities of Wagner's survival, then, are unclear.

On Saturday, Mr Putin signed a instrumentality which means lone the defence ministry tin present enlistee successful Russian prisons, antecedently a cardinal root of fighters for Ukraine for Wagner.

But the group's broader recruitment thrust continues.

In Volgograd, the antheral we spoke to said that if idiosyncratic signed up today, "I could deploy him tomorrow," and confirmed that Belarus was present a imaginable destination.

Earlier this week, Belarus's long-time person Alexander Lukashenko - who has relished describing his relation mediating an extremity to Saturday's uprising - said that Wagner fighters were invited there.

He suggested the Belarusian service had overmuch to larn from them.

A Belarusian subordinate of Wagner who goes by the call-sign "Brest" hinted that the radical would beryllium bully extortion for Mr Lukashenko up of adjacent year's parliamentary elections, successful lawsuit determination were much wide protests astatine his authoritarian rule.

In a video posted connected Telegram and filmed successful an chartless location, "Brest" besides reminded subscribers that the Belarusian borderline was "less than 300km from Kyiv". It was a thinly veiled threat.

There is inactive nary motion that Wagner fighters are moving to Belarus, though.

"Everything's the aforesaid arsenic before, for now. Nothing's changed," said a pistillate successful Saratov, cardinal Russia, confirming that she was inactive recruiting men to combat successful Ukraine.

"Everyone goes to Molkino, arsenic usual. To the grooming centre. They get each the accusation there," she added, seemingly referring to a shooting scope antecedently linked to Wagner successful confederate Russia.

So volition thing alteration aft 1 July, I wondered? "I anticipation not. I don't know. But radical are inactive contacting us, of course."

Additional reporting by Anastassia Zlatopolskai