The head of the Wagner mercenary group has said that it will continue its activities in Africa and Belarus, but that it is not currently recruiting new fighters.

Yevgeny Prigozhin made this known in an audio message published by a Wagner-linked Telegram account while adding that the group is deciding on its next objectives

Wagner fighters have played a key role during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in June, several thousand of them took part in a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.

In his audio message, Mr Prigozhin said most Wagner fighters were currently on leave, because “before that, there was a long period of very hard work”.

He said the group was deciding on future tasks, which would “be carried out for the greatness of Russia”.

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The group would stay “active in Africa and at training centres in Belarus”, he added in his message – which was published on the Grey Zone account, believed to be linked to Wagner.

The Wagner chief did not give further details, although Wagner is known to be active in multiple parts of Africa. Its fighters have also been teaching territorial defence forces in Belarus.

“While we are not experiencing any deficit in personnel, we do not plan to conduct new recruitment,” Mr Prigozhin said. “However, we will be extremely grateful if you keep in touch with us, and as soon as the Motherland requires a new group that will be able to protect the interests of our country, we will certainly start recruiting.”

He added that there were no restrictions placed on its fighters to transfer to “other power structures” of Russia, and “unfortunately, some” agreed to do that.

After the failed mutiny many Wagner fighters were President Vladimir Putin invited fighters from the group who did not take part in the uprising to sign contracts with the Russian defence ministry.