<\/aside>\nWagner also operates as private security contractors in countries in Africa, and its forces have been accused of heinous abuses against civilians and exploitation of natural resources in mining businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWagner Group was decapitated,\u201d said Wojciech Lorenz, head of the International Security Program of the Warsaw-based Polish Institute of International Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will limit its usefulness as a tool of psychological operations against Poland from Belarus. But Russia will still need private military companies to act mainly in Africa so Wagner Group, even if rebranded as other groups, will remain active threatening Western interests and security.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/aside>\nWagner Telegram channels have pinned the blame for the crash on Russian defense forces, raising some speculation of Wagner\u2019s remaining leaders seeking to avenge\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prigozhin\u2019s death, perhaps with a second march to Moscow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, experts and officials are skeptical of such a possibility given the group\u2019s relative state of disarray.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/aside>\nAfter the mutiny attempt, Putin called for formally integrating Wagner forces into the Russian military.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ariel Cohen, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council\u2019s Eurasia Center, said that loyalty among Wagner forces towards Prigozhin is likely to make it more difficult for Putin to integrate these forces into the Russian army.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question now arises: What will happen with the Wagner Group assets in Russia, Belarus, African countries, and Syria?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/aside>\nThe U.S. and other NATO allies have warned against Wagner forces threatening territory of the alliance, saying that they viewed no distinction between the private military company and the Russian military.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, European capitals were largely muted in their reactions the day after Prigozhin\u2019s reported death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom\u2019s Ministry of Defense, which provides daily, defense intelligence updates on Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and the state of Russia, did not mention Prigozhin\u2019s death in its latest bulletin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, it noted how Putin made a visit to Rostov-on-Don on August 19, the headquarters for the Russian military\u2019s southern operations against Ukraine and that was seized by Prigozhin in his mutiny attempt on June 24.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin highly likely wishes to project his authority and to portray the senior military command as functioning as usual,\u201d\u00a0the assessment read<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nTatiana Stanovaya, Senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center,\u00a0wrote on X<\/a>\u00a0that for Putin, \u201cPrigozhin\u2019s death should serve as a lesson to any potential successors.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cI see no reason why Putin would need Prigozhin in any capacity after the mutiny,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPrigozhin was only needed for some time after the mutiny to smoothly dismantle Wagner in Russia and move it to Belarus under new leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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