Wagner Group Mandates 'Loyalty to the State' Oath... Putin Signs Decree

Two Days After Prigozhin's Death... Expansion of Mandatory Loyalty Oaths to Civilians

After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the private mercenary group Wagner Group, Russia has made it mandatory for Wagner Group soldiers to take an 'oath of loyalty to the state.'

On the 26th (local time), according to major foreign media including AFP, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree the day before requiring those contributing to military missions to obligatorily take an oath of loyalty to the state.

This came two days after the crash of the Wagner Group's private plane carrying Prigozhin on the 23rd, in which all passengers, including him, died.

The decree is interpreted as expanding the scope of mandatory loyalty oaths to include irregular military private organizations within the Russian Federation.

The decree includes 'members of volunteer organizations' as subjects required to take the loyalty oath, which is understood to effectively refer to private mercenary organizations like the Wagner Group.

The decree states that its purpose is to 'form the spiritual and moral foundation for the defense of the Russian Federation.' It also stipulates that soldiers must pledge loyalty to the Russian Federation, strictly follow the orders of commanders and superiors, and faithfully fulfill their duties.

This is seen as a move by the Putin administration to strengthen control over the Wagner Group following Prigozhin's death, especially after the Wagner Group's attempted armed rebellion on June 23-24.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.