Russian mercenaries: what is known about the Wagner troupe

Officially they don’t exist: mercenaries in the service of Russia. Nevertheless, well-equipped Russian fighters were deployed in Syria and other crisis regions – without being part of the army. They should belong to the Wagner troupe.

When it comes to the Wagner troop, there is often talk of “Putin’s shadow army”, of “Russia’s mercenaries”. The Kremlin rejects both of these. After all, private armies are banned in Russia. Mercenaryism is a punishable offense. From the official side one speaks – if at all – of the “Wagner Group”, a private security company which – as President Vladimir Putin emphasized in 2018 – can of course offer its services anywhere in the world.

Operations in Eastern Ukraine and Syria

Documents and statements by former fighters, which Russian investigative journalists have meticulously compiled over the years, prove that these services go far beyond mere personal and property protection. They show that Wagner fighters were on the front lines not only in eastern Ukraine, but also in Syria.

For example, during the storming of Palmyra in 2016, says Ruslan Leviev from the conflict intelligence team: “In Syria, the troops have clearly taken over the tasks of a regular army. up to the conquest of individual objects in the oil and gas sector. “

The journalist Denis Korotkow explains in an interview that the troops were also able to use heavy equipment. “If necessary, they can get artillery, tanks, rocket launchers, drones and mortars.” Material that no normal security service has in stock. But the Russian Ministry of Defense is.

Training on the GRU premises?

It is also no coincidence that research shows that the troop’s training grounds are located on the premises of the Russian military intelligence service GRU. A service for which the man who gave the troops their name also worked: Dmitri Utkin, Lieutenant Colonel of the Reserve. Battle name: Wagner. Because of his preference for the German composer.

Wagner and his unit were active in eastern Ukraine in 2014 – as a Wagner troupe. Which explains why well-equipped Russian fighters were there, but not – as the Kremlin likes to emphasize – Russian army personnel.

Entrepreneur Prigozhin is supposed to finance troops

In the meantime, Wagner fighters can be found in many crisis areas in which the deployment of regular troops would be critical in terms of security policy, costly or internationally sensitive, but on the other hand – as in Africa – there are definitely tangible economic and geopolitical interests. Interests on the part of the Russian leadership, but also on the part of the man who is supposed to finance the Wagner troop: the entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin, who, as a caterer, supplies the Russian army, among other things.

“A businessman close to the Kremlin with a broad spectrum of interests,” explains journalist Korotkov. He is usually called “Putin’s cook”. “His companies usually take care of all president and government events, including large receptions in the Kremlin or other locations in Moscow.”

In Prigozhin’s corporate empire there are also said to be companies that have entered the mining business in Africa. The entrepreneur himself denies having anything to do with the Wagner troupe – a troop that has a reputation for acting without consideration for losses and which tries not to leave more traces than its famous – and meanwhile also notorious – names.