Wagner mercenaries were on Thursday reported to be trying to head back into Russia after threatening retaliation over the suspected killing of their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash on the orders of Vladimir Putin. “The convoys are likely heading towards the border with Russia,” the centre said. “There’s a lot talk right now about what the Wagner Group will do,” he said.
The Kremlin has been paying for Wagner from the beginning. Wagner has always belonged to Putin. It’s mercenary status has just been a mechanism of plausible deniability.