PMC WAGNER: FROM PRIVATE COMPANY TO A REAL ARMY

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝑷𝑴𝑪 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔?

The Wagner is used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing the Russian state to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and allowing it to hide the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions. According to official statements, the Wagner Group was formed at the GRU base near Krasnodar and was founded by Dimitry Valeryevich Utkin, who took part in both Chechen wars. Utkin served 10 years as commander of the 2nd GRU Specnaz Brigade and also served in Syria under the "Slavonic Corps" in 2010. Meanwhile, the “leader” Yevgeny Prigozhin is a oligarch who has been nicknamed "Putin's Chef" because he has accompanied the Russian President since his first public appearances thanks to his restaurant and catering business. After many months of war in Ukraine, Prigozhin admitted that he joined and conducted the “Orchestra” together with Utkin. From the beginning, Wagner has brought Prigozhin a lot of income, those years Prigozhin actively implemented mercenary companies in destabilization and combat operations outside its borders (Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Venezuela, Mali and Sudan).

𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝑾𝒂𝒓.

In October 2015, Wagner landed for the first time in Syria, a few weeks after the Russian military intervention in the allied country. In 2016, during the offensive for the liberation of Palmyra from Daesh, Wagner liberated the city replacing the loyalist forces of Al-Assad almost completely. At the end of 2016, Wagner left Syria to return in 2017 and recapture oil fields that had fallen into the hands of ISIS. Before the battle of Khasham against the Americans in February 2018, the musicians took part in the Uqayribat battles in the Hama area and, also in late 2017, fought in Deir Ez-Zor, Al-Bazh and Abu-Adad. In March 2018, Wagner helped Al-Assad's forces recapture Ghouta east of Damascus. Finally, the musicians returned actively in 2019 during the offensive in northern Syria in the Idlib area. It is difficult to say what role Wagner will play in the Middle Eastern country from 2020.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒚.

On April 22, 2019, the DGSE (French intelligence) released satellite images and aerial shots with drones, documenting the attempt by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to fabricate false evidence to blame the French military for having committed atrocities near the Gossi military base in northern Mali. Base that, a month earlier, the French soldiers of the “Barkhane Operation” handed over to the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA). The footage shows Wagner contractors burying corpses in shallow mass graves outside the Gossi base to produce false evidence of mass killings by French forces. The Musicians have been deployed to Mali since December 2021 to train local forces and provide security services in a country destabilized by the growing of jihadist threat. In exchange for Wagner's intervention, Moscow and Wagner aim to exploit the natural resources of the Sahelian country while also offering less interference in internal affairs than the French. Violence has increased since Wagner's arrival, civilian casualties are higher in the first quarter of 2022 than in all of 2021. At the end of March, during a military operation, FAMA soldiers, with the support of mercenaries, massacred hundreds of inhabitants of the city of Moura, in the central region of Mopti. During the raid, 300 civilians were killed by beheading because they were identified as alleged Jihadists.

𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒐𝒏𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒕.

The involvement of Wagners in the war in eastern Ukraine started in 2014 by pro-Russian paramilitary groups is controversial and unclear. We know that between 2014 and 2015 they deployed 1,500 military personnel, often former Spetsnaz veterans or members of the VDV. Wagner troops arrived in summer 2014 in the Luhansk to increase the crisis. In the Luhansk oblast, Wagner took part in the battle for the city's airport (April-September 2014). Subsequently, Wagner participated in the great battle of Debaltsevo (January-February 2015), which ended in a major defeat for the Ukrainians. The organization remained mainly in Luhansk to compete with the FSB men. Wagner, according to pro-Ukrainian sources, eliminated several commanders of pro-Russian battalions in the Donbas, such as the 'Batman' battalion.

In 2014, the Wagner Group led by Utkin also operated in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied by russian separatists. The SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) said Wagner mercenaries were involved in the downing of a Ukrainian Il-76 in Luhansk on July 14, 2014 (48°23′40″N 39°27′44″E), in which 49 people were killed, in the storming of Luhansk airport and the town of Debaltseve, Donetsk region.