Putin orders Wagner mercenaries to sign oath allegiance to Russia after Prighozin's death

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Wagner mercenaries to sign an oath of allegiance to the Russian state after they reportedly lost their chief Yevgeny Prighozin earlier this week to a plane crash. Putin signed a decree bringing the change into effect on Friday. The official decree that has been published on the Kremlin website states that anyone who currently works on behalf of the Russian military or supports what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine must swear a formal oath of allegiance to Russia.

Described in the decree as a step to forge the spiritual and moral foundations of the defence of Russia, the wording of the oath includes a line in which those who take it promise to strictly follow the orders of commanders and senior leaders.

On the same day, the Kremlin dismissed claims made by the West that it ordered Prighozin’s death. Putin’s official spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told BBC that the allegations that the Kremlin ordered Prighozin’s death is “a complete lie.” “In the West of course this speculation comes from a certain angle. It’s all a complete lie. Of course when we talk about this issue we should be guided only by facts,” Peskov said. He added, “We don’t have many facts at the moment, the facts need to be clarified during the official investigation which is being carried out now.” The Kremlin has repeatedly refused to confirm Prighozin’s death, citing the need to wait for test results. Russia’s aviation authority has said that Prigozhin was on board a private jet that crashed on Wednesday evening northwest of Moscow with no survivors exactly two months after he led a failed mutiny against army chiefs. Meanwhile, Putin broke his silence on the plane crash a day earlier that reportedly killed mercenary boss Prigozhin and other senior members of the Wagner paramilitary group. In televised comments, Putin offered his “sincere condolences to the families of all the victims”, describing the crash as a “tragedy”. Peskov said that it was “impossible to say” whether Putin would attend the Wagner boss’ funeral as he has “a very full schedule.” With inputs from Reuters