Putin Signs In Law Forcing All Soldiers To Sign An Oath To Russia
While Prigozhin and other Wagner leaders gone, Putin can control the Wagner group
Prigozhin is confirmed dead according to Russian sources as genetic tests have been carried out and the dead match the names on the flight manifest. How convenient that the heads of the Wagner group have all gone in one swoop, and that Putin signs in a law forcing all soldiers that fight for Russia to sign an oath of allegiance to the country less than 48 hours after the plane crash.
Technically, that would mean the Wagner troops no longer have a choice—sign or be conscripted. Reports stated that Wagner troops were leaving Belarus, but Lukashenko denied this, yet satellite images show the camps being dismantled and troops leaving. Who knows under whose command and where the troops are headed? If these men wanted to join the Russian army they would have done so, but they are mercenaries and fight for money. Many will also have been loyal to Prigozhin and other Wagner personnel, so how will the troops react?
Day 548 (25 August)
Heineken sells off their Russian business assets for €1 to a Russian company, Arnerst with a loss of €300 million. The purchase includes 7 breweries, and guarantees that the 1,800 workers will remain employed for at least 3 years. Companies are now accepting that they must leave Russia at a loss after Danone and Carlsberg had their assets seized by the Russian state. At least this way the workers get to keep their jobs.
Domino’s pizza has also announced they will leave the Russian market and have chosen the bankruptcy path.
The fate of the Wagner troops in Belarus is undecided, but satellite images indicate camps are being dismantled after Prigozhin and his colleagues deaths (or are they murders?)
Putin has signed a law requiring all those ‘performing military tasks’ to take an oath to the Russian flag. This means Wagner troops no longer have the choice Putin gave them only a few weeks ago. From an outsider’s point of view, it appears this is what Putin wanted and those who didn’t sign up for the Russian army, he was going to force them to do so somehow. I imagine many have either slipped away already to avoid conscription because if they were going to sign, they would have done so already.
Day 549 (26 August)
Three Ukrainian air force pilots were killed in a collision while training. An investigation is taking place, and these pilots would have probably been training on the F-16s if it had not been for the delays and procrastination.
The three pilots were: Captain Andrii Pilschylov (callsign Juice), Major Viacheslav Minke, and Major Serhii Prokazin.
Ukrainian pilots must be trained in English before they can train on the F-16s so the whole process will take at least 6 months. History will not be kind to those who have delayed this action as it’s clear NATO and the US were hoping it would all be over by now, instead more people have died and more war crimes have been carried out. They were afraid of escalation and believed providing jets would seem like such an act—now they don’t seem that concerned, so have wasted 14 months.
Since Prigozhin’s death, and Putin’s quick turnaround of laws forcing Wagner troops to swear an oath to the Russian flag, it’s clear that Putin’s ‘promises’ are false and he cannot be trusted in any deal. Prigozhin had been a friend and the deal that all charges were to be dropped against him was obviously for a reason—he wasn’t going to be around for much longer and we all knew it. The Wagner troops had been promised several choices— to stay with Wagner, go home, or join the Russian army. Only 6 weeks later, there is no choice except the latter which is what Putin wanted.
A new Ukrainian missile has been used to attack a Russian anti-aircraft system in Crimea on 23 August 2023. What this means is that Ukraine has its own weapons where they are not limited as to where they use them unlike weapons supplied by the allies. The US still holds the line that they discourage the use of weapons outside of Ukrainian territory, but that’s easy for them to say when they are not being attacked. Ukraine needs to stop the weapons entering Ukraine and the only way to do that is to stop them leaving Russia.
Day 550 (27 August)
Zelenskyy proposes that corruption should be classed as treason. This would serve as a deterrent as many cases of corruption have been uncovered which have enabled the Russians to invade and occupy parts of Ukraine.
Prigozhin, according to the Russians has been identified as one of the bodies in the plane crash after genetic testing had taken place.