Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group Registers as 'Educational Organization' in Belarus — Set to Recruit Kids After Exile From Russia
Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group recently registered as an “educational organization” in Belarus, RadarOnline.com has learned – creating fears that the mercenary chief may start to recruit children into his ranks.
In a concerning development to come two months after Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries launched a botched rebellion against Vladimir Putin and Moscow in June, sources revealed the warlord successfully registered Wagner as an “educational organization” earlier this week.
According to Daily Star, Wagner joined the official Belarusian Unified State Register of Legal Entities as an educational group on Wednesday.
The group reportedly paid $75 to set up its new “educational organization” in the Belarusian village of Tsel in the Osipovichi district.
Even more concerning are reports that Prigozhin and Wagner plan to launch “educational activities and training” with local schools in the area.
Meanwhile, the group’s registration this week found that Maxim Petrov was named as the new “owner” of Wagner.
Although it is currently unclear whether they are the same person, Maxim Petrov shares the same name as a Russian serial killer who brutally murdered 11 people in 1999 and 2000.
A second company, named Mogilev Regional Executive Committee and also based in the Belarusian village of Tsel, was reportedly registered in July. That company was listed as being owned by Prigozhin.
The village of Tsel reportedly contains military bases founded by the Soviet Union in 1936. Although the bases were abandoned in 2018, they suddenly became active again this past June.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Prigozhin and Wagner fled Russia for Belarus in June after the group launched a botched coup against Putin on June 24 in Moscow.
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered a deal on Putin’s behalf that granted Prigozhin and his mercenaries amnesty in Belarus, and Wagner has reportedly made the nation its new base of operations.
“You have done a lot for Russia,” the 62-year-old mercenary chief said in July in his first video since being exiled. “What is happening at the front now is a disgrace in which we do not need to take part. We must wait for the moment when we can show our worth to the maximum.”
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“That’s why it was decided that we will be here in Belarus for some time,” he continued. “During this time, we will make the Belarusian army the second army in the world.”
Prigozhin then announced earlier this month that Wagner would be temporarily suspending recruitment to the mercenary group.
“As long as we do not experience a shortage in personnel, we do not plan to carry out a new recruitment,” he said on August 1.
“As soon as the Motherland needs to create a new ‘group’ that will be able to protect the interests of our country,” he continued, “we will certainly start recruiting.”
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