Russian mercenaries from the Wagner PMC refused to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, Head of the Wagner PMC, reported on this.

On June 10, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered all Russian volunteer formations to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense by July 1 to create “unified approaches to the organization of comprehensive support and the fulfillment of tasks by them.”

In its summary, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation referred to the mercenaries of the Wagner PMC as volunteers of assault units.

In response, Prigozhin stated that Shoigu’s decrees apply to employees of the Ministry of Defense and military personnel.

“The Wagner PMC is organically integrated into the general system, it will coordinate its actions with generals on the right, on the left, with unit commanders, it has deep experience and is a highly effective structure,” Prigozhin stated.

Prigozhin also noted that “Shoigu cannot properly manage military formations.”

It is worth noting that according to Russian law, private military companies are prohibited in Russia, so officials choose the definition of “volunteer forces”.

However, the Wagner PMC can hardly be considered a private military company. This formation has been provided with weapons and armored vehicles of the Russian army for many years and performs various tasks in Africa, Syria, and Ukraine. Mercenaries of the Wagner PMC are accused of committing numerous war crimes, including extrajudicial executions.

Last summer, after several military defeats of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine, the Wagner PMC started recruiting prisoners to its ranks and sending them to war.

In May of this year, Prigozhin reported the death of 20,000 mercenaries of the Wagner PMC in Ukraine. It is possible that the figure has been underestimated.

“During the operation, I selected 50,000 prisoners, of which approximately 20 percent died. Exactly as many of them died as those who came to us under a contract. Approximately another 20 percent are wounded and have injuries that prevent them from performing combat tasks for three months or more,” Prigozhin said.