• Kremlin diplomats flew overseas hours after Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin introduced a revolt.
• In response to The Wall Avenue Journal, the diplomats flew to Mali and Syria, and phoned into the Central African Republic.
• Their message was uniform: the Kremlin’s missions overseas would stay unchanged, and Wagner reviews to the Kremlin now.

Russian diplomats jetted to Africa and the Center East hours after Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin tried an armed revolt to reassure allied leaders that the Russian authorities was in management.

In response to the Wall Avenue Journal, diplomats with Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Conditions flew to Mali and Syria after Prigozhin introduced a mutiny on Moscow final week. The diplomats made their technique to international locations the place Russia has relied on Wagner mercenaries to combat their proxy wars — telling the leaders that Wagner would report back to the Kremlin now.

Kremlin diplomats personally reassured Syrian president Bashar al-Assad that Wagner would proceed working within the nation, however not independently, in response to the Journal. The Journal sourced the replace by way of Wagner defectors, nameless diplomats and intelligence officers near the conversations, and thru monitoring worldwide flight information.

And in Mali, leaders have been reassured that they might proceed to depend on Wagner mercenaries, who could be below the Kremlin’s direct command, the Journal reported.

Members of the Kremlin’s international ministry additionally referred to as the chief of the Central African Republic — who employs Wagner mercenaries as his bodyguards — assuring that the Kremlin’s mission would stay unchanged. 

Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that since final 12 months, his authorities has paid Wagner near $1 billion. Prigozhin, whose background was as a caterer for the army, was seen as a vital Putin ally previous to his failed revolt.

Wagner forces performed a key position in capturing the Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut, and most of the 30,000 mercenaries employed by the corporate have fought for Kremlin pursuits in Syria and Africa.

Final week, Prigozhin accused Russia’s protection ministry of finishing up a missile strike in opposition to Wagner positions at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, which he claimed had killed a “enormous quantity” of mercenaries. 

Within the tirade, Prigozhin mentioned Russia’s protection ministry “should be stopped” and the people chargeable for the demise of Wagner fighters should be punished. Moscow’s safety companies shortly responded by asserting a legal case in opposition to Prigozhin, charging him with inciting an armed revolt. 

Inside a day, Wagner fighters captured the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, and headed in the direction of Moscow. By Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had brokered a peace deal, forcing Prigozhin to name off the coup in change for immunity in Belarus.

In the course of the days of stress, Wagner fighters shot down a number of Russian plane, killing the pilots. The mutiny was unsuccessful partly as a result of Prigozhin’s plans have been leaked forward of time, the Journal reported.