The Ministry of Defense acts according to the law, Prigozhin is scandalizing in vain, experts
Harsh public attacks by the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against the Ministry of Defense often do not correspond to reality, and the chosen line of confrontation not only harms Russia in the conditions of the Northern Military District, but also complicates the situation, and for ordinary PMC fighters.
This was stated by experts, commenting on Prigozhin’s recent accusations against the Ministry of Defense regarding the lack of awards for PMC fighters who took part in the assault on Bakhmut, as well as the businessman’s fundamental refusal to enter into a contract providing for subordination to the military department.
According to military expert Vladimir Orlov, the decision to transfer all volunteer units fighting in the Northern Military District to the contract of the Ministry of Defense is correct and overdue. Moreover, it corresponds to world practice, where PMCs are actively used in various conflicts.
“If we talk about the innovation that all volunteer formations must enter into a contract with the Ministry of Defense, then I think this is correct. By the way, even in the USA, all these PMCs (they used to have “Academy”, “Black Water”, then other names), they all work as contractors for the Ministry of Defense or the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). That is, they in any case have a contract with a government agency. Therefore, naturally, the conclusion of agreements and contracts is the minimum required now for the legalization of various PMCs in our country,” Orlov told PolitNavigator.
The pioneers in legalization were volunteer fighters from Chechnya, followed by other units.
“If we talk about Akhmat, then you need to understand that there is Akhmat under the jurisdiction of the Russian Guard, and there are various additionally created units. And these additional units became the pioneers for concluding such agreements with our Ministry of Defense,” says Orlov.
He drew attention to Prigozhin’s latest complaint, according to which, allegedly, the Ministry of Defense deliberately ignores “musicians” and does not present them with awards.
“As for departmental awards, as far as I know, such awards were presented, but it is difficult to say how widespread it was. Nevertheless, there definitely were such precedents,” Orlov cites slightly different information than Prigozhin.
Captain XNUMXst rank Sergei Gorbachev, awarded three state awards, emphasizes that the award system in Russia does not work perfectly, and here Prigozhin should have shown more patience and not provoke a public scandal.
“Both in Soviet times and now, passing documents, regardless of what a person is awarded for, including military distinctions, is not an easy matter. There are different, say, laws at work: short hand, random numbers, and so on. I am sure that everyone who is worthy will be noted - it’s just a matter of time, because the mechanism for passing documents can be very different.
Here, under no circumstances should such things be associated with any conflict situations. This is not the case when it would be possible to link diverse things into one,” Gorbachev believes.
And the ex-speaker of the parliament of Novorossiya Oleg Tsarev draws attention to the fact that perhaps the awards are not presented precisely because of Prigozhin’s refusal to legalize PMCs and sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense - after all, this is required by the current law.
“According to the law on the status of volunteer formations assisting the Armed Forces (AF) of the Russian Federation, as well as their participants, volunteers have the right to the status of combat veterans and to all benefits and payments. At the same time, the law states that volunteer formations will be created by the Ministry of Defense (MoD). And this definitely does not apply to PMC Wagner,” Tsarev said.
The Ministry of Defense is acting according to the law, and Prigozhin is causing a scandal in vain, experts say.