The
signing followed an order that all "volunteer units" should sign
contracts by July 1 bringing them under the control of Defense
Minister Sergei Shoigu, as Moscow tries to assert its control
over private armies fighting on its behalf in Ukraine.
In return, volunteer fighters would get the same benefits and
protections as regular troops, including support for them and
their families if they are wounded or killed.
Prigozhin, who has waged a running feud with the defense
ministry and accused it of failing to provide adequate
ammunition supplies to his Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine, said
on Sunday he would refuse to sign any such contract.
He said that Shoigu "cannot properly manage military
formations".
The contract the defense ministry signed on Monday was with the
Akhmat paramilitary group that has often been called the private
army of Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia's Chechnya region.
Unlike Prigozhin, Kadyrov has recently refrained from
criticising the defence ministry. Members of the two groups have
openly sparred, with one of Kadyrov's close allies on Thursday
casting Prigozhin as a blogger who yells all the time about
problems.
Akhmat commander Apty Alaudinov, who took part in the signing of
the contract, said the unit has "prepared and sent tens of
thousands of volunteers" to Ukraine in the past 15 months.
Moscow said on Friday that the Akhmat forces were waging an
offensive near the town of Maryinka, in the eastern Ukrainian
region of Donetsk.
"I think this is a very good thing," Alaudinov was quoted as
saying by the defense ministry's website after signing the deal.
Russia's deputy chief of the general staff, Colonel General
Alexei Kim, said after signing the agreement with the Chechens
that he hoped other volunteer units would follow suit.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Mark
Trevelyan and Peter Graff)
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