[モスクワ １２日 ロイター] – Evgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian private military company Wagner, said in an interview published over the weekend that he has ambitions to make Wagner an “ideological army” fighting for justice in Russia.
Wagner fighters have been leading offensives in eastern Ukraine in recent months, mainly in the strategic town of Bakhmut. Russia sees Bakhmut as an important stepping stone to occupying larger cities.
“After the capture of Artemovsk[Russian name for Bakhmut]we will restart,” Prigozhin said in a video posted on a Wagner-related Telegram channel. “We will start recruiting new personnel, especially from this region,” he said.
“Wagner needs to change from being the best civilian force in the world capable of defending a country to a military with an ideology, and that ideology is a struggle for justice,” he said.
Prigozhin said on Thursday that he had opened combatant recruitment centers in 42 cities.
