"Important Stories"*: hundreds of "Wagner" fighters from colonies settled in Kuban hotels

About 400 former prisoners who had signed contracts with the "Wagner" Private Military Company (PMC) live in hotels near the city of Anapa, waiting for an official pardoning, the outlet named "Vazhnye Istorii" (Important Stories)* has found out.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 24, it became known that after negotiations of Evgeny Prigozhin and President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, "Wagner" PMC fighters left Rostov-on-Don for their field camps. On July 17, sources from the PMC announced that their base located in the Kuban (Krasnodar Territory) farm of Molkino would cease to exist from July 30, 2023.

The PMC bosses, who announced the termination of its activities in Russia, sent home all its mercenaries from among former prisoners; now they live in the village of Vityazevo near Anapa. The "Important Stories"* learned the whereabouts of recent prisoners from their relatives.

According to the outlet, the obligations under contracts with the PMC have been removed from them, but they are waiting for pardoning decrees and due payments.

According to relatives, some of former prisoners have been waiting for pardoning near Anapa for two months. The chat, where mercenaries' relatives are communicating, there are reports of antisocial behaviour of "Wagner" fighters in Vityazevo.

According to sources, Krasnodar hotels are also watching an influx of Wagner PMC fighters. They "fight among themselves, with hotel employees, as well as with local residents," the ASTRA Telegram channel has reported.

*On August 20, 2021, the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) put the legal entity "Istories fonds", registered in Latvia and publishing the "Important Stories", into the register of the media-foreign agents.