Putin says Russia paid $1 billion to the Wagner Group in one year

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A senior Kremlin politician said Russia must build a seven-million-man army to ensure there is no need for mercenary groups for the country’s security, following a failed rebellion by Wagner’s group over the weekend.

Leonid Slutsky, who at the beginning of the 16-month war was involved in peace negotiations with Ukraine, said that Russia needed a contract army of at least seven million military and civilian personnel, on top of the army of existing conscripts.

“The country does not need any private military companies and the like,” Slutsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party, said on Telegram. “There are problems in the regular army, but private military companies can’t solve them.”

Currently the Russian army is believed to consist of just over a million men, with about two million reservists.

President Vladimir Putin delivered a defiant speech on Monday, saying he deliberately left the one-day insurgency too long to avoid bloodshed, while Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said yesterday the insurrection was a “master lesson” in how to launch an invasion.

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