Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a voice message published on Monday that his Wagner group was not currently recruiting fighters but was likely to do so in future.

The future of Wagner and Prigozhin has been unclear since he led a short mutiny against the Russian defence establishment in late June and the Kremlin said he and some of his fighters - who have fought in some of the fiercest battles of the Ukraine war - would leave for Belarus.