The Wagner Group, originally a shadowy organization, has emerged as Russia’s most vital mercenary organization. Conducting the dirty work the Kremlin does not want to be linked to, Wagner has engaged in illicit activities around Africa and is related to civilian massacres in the continent along with Syria and Ukraine.
In Ukraine, Wagner has emerged as arguably the most capable fighting force Russia has, as their professional troops and elite forces have taken significant losses. When Ukraine conducted successful counter-offensives, Putin desperately needed propaganda victories to continue selling the war to the public. This is where Wagner stepped in.
What is Wagner?
The Wagner Group is a private military company (PMC) that operates on behalf of the Kremlin to conduct operations Moscow does not want to be traced back to. The organization is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close friend and former personal chef of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Wagner Group was named by Dmitry Utkin, a far-right GRU officer whose call sign was “Wagner.” It is named after Richard Wagner, Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, who was a notorious antisemite himself.
Wagner also operates an open neo-Nazi, Fascist, and Duginist subsidiary called the Rusich Group, which has called for the genocide of Ukrainians and has been responsible for some of the most horrible massacres during the War in Ukraine.
The group notoriously recruits prisoners to swell their ranks regardless of their violent history. Occasionally giving contracts to potential Russian military contractors and future FSB/GRU officers as Wagner has paid higher wages, the mercenaries seemingly have a long stream of manpower.
Operations Outside of Russia
Wagner, being a PMC, operates independently from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) and must accrue its funding. However, through illicit activities in Africa, Wagner has swelled its budget and influence.
In Libya, the mercenaries have fought on the side of the rogue General Khalifa Haftar. A Human Rights Watch report detailed how Wagner landlines continue to maim Libyan civilians to this day. They have also been linked to massacres during the civil war until a ceasefire took place.
Wagner has propped up juntas in Mali, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. The United Nations opened up an investigation of the PMC when reports of civilian massacres in the Central African Republic came in.
In Mali, Wagner has been the arm of the Kremlin to exert influence and embarrass their geopolitical rival, France, as seen when the Malian junta forced Paris to withdraw from the country. Numerous civilian massacres against anti-junta dissidents have also been linked to the mercenaries by various human rights organizations.
Sudan has arguably been Wagner’s most lucrative and destabilizing operation. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are heavily armed and backed by the organization in return for using the nation’s rich goldmines to fund the PMC’s operations. Sudanese civilians have been given firsthand accounts of modern slavery by Wagner, who threatens to execute those forced to work in RSF gold mines with executions if they fail to meet their quota.
Using Violence like ISIS to Attract Recruits
What makes Wagner dangerous is their lust for violence, which they openly upload on their Grey Zone telegram channel to gather recruits. Already a group with neo-Nazi ties, the PMC looks to attract far-right Westerners and Russians with little morality or qualms regarding brutality.
The patient and notorious sledgehammer is Wagner’s top choice for executions. In 2017, four mercenaries in Syria savagely tortured and killed a Syrian army deserter with the weapon. The organization has also executed its deserters with sledgehammers, as seen throughout the war in Ukraine.
Convicts are critical for Wagner’s battlefield success. Unfortunately, the mercenaries see them as cannon fodder due to the ultimatum of rotting in a Russian prison or fighting for pardons in Ukraine. Indeed, this has become what has become of tens of thousands of convicts used by Wagner in human wave assaults in Soledar and Bakhmut to attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian positions and scope out artillery fire.
In 2023, several mercenaries gave testimonies of direct orders to execute Ukrainian civilians in Bakhmut, regardless if they were combatants, women, or children. Yevgeny Prigozhin would state in late April that the mercenaries were no longer taking in any POWs and would discard them in their way.
The Case for Wagner to be Labeled as a Global Terrorist Organization
The Wagner Group has morphed beyond some of the most controversial PMCs, such as Blackwater, and has become a global force of devastation everywhere deployed. Wagner has amassed its own Air Force and works with Russian intelligence agencies, both known for their conflicts with their military.
Wagner continuously arms the RSF in Sudan, the paramilitary responsible for the civil war they have started as the mercenaries look to use the African country as a permanent base of operations and funding if their ventures fail in Ukraine. The group has also attacked US forces, particularly in Syria.
During the Battle of Khasham in 2018, several hundred Wagner and Syrian troops attempted to overrun a US Special Operations Forces base, which resulted in hundreds of casualties for the PMC and their Syrian allies. Yevgeny Prigozhin is one of the most ambitious hardliners in Putin’s inner circle and will look to advance if his regime falls.
Preemptions must be made to contain Wagner and its influence as the PMCs look to further their extreme violence to attract more followers and influence. Like ISIS, the group will ultimately become a significant global security problem unless its external operations are kept in check.
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