Wagner’s group of private mercenaries making headlines around the world have proven vital to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, but their successes have also revealed the division in Moscow’s war effort.
White House National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby told reporters Friday that the United States assesses there is growing tension between the Russian Defense Ministry and Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has maintained close ties with Putin for a long time.
Russia claimed victory in the fierce battle for the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar earlier this month, showing blatant divisions between the Defense Ministry, which conceded victory to its troops, and Putin-aligned Prigozhin, who said that the rare achievement was due to his laborers.
A man places flowers on the coffin during the funeral of Dmitry Menshikov, a mercenary from the Russian private military company Wagner Group killed during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the Alley of Heroes at a cemetery in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 24 December. 2022.
(REUTERS/Igor Russak)
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The Defense Ministry, which has long distanced itself from the Wagner Group, issued an unusual statement, saying the city was taken in a “mixed” effort to trap Soledar from the north and south.
The direct assault on the city blocks “was accomplished by the courageous and selfless actions of the Wagner PMC volunteer stormtroopers,” the ministry added.
“We are seeing indications, including in intelligence, that tensions between Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry are increasing,” Kirby told reporters on Friday. “Wagner is becoming a rival power center for the Russian military and other Russian ministries.”
For years, the Russian government has denied any connection to the private military company (PMC) despite reports ranging from first-hand accounts to UN-level records showing that the shadow force has been used to persecute Kremlin interests from the Middle East and Africa to Ukraine. , in particular the interests of Putin.
“Wagner PMC was formed as a military branch for hybrid operations outside of Russia under the auspices of the FSB [Federal Security Services]Wagner expert Oleksander Kovalenko told Fox News Digital in reference to the intelligence agency that replaced the infamous KGB.
Kovalenko, a military monitor for the Information Resistance group in Ukraine that began countering propaganda after the 2014 Russian invasion, explained that Russia’s use of private military groups is nothing new.
People in military uniform, allegedly soldiers from the Russian mercenary group Wagner and their boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, pose for a photo believed to be at a salt mine in Soledar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this photo released on January 10. . 2023.
(“Concord” press service/Handout via REUTERS)
“It all started in the days of the USSR,” he said, noting that power struggles broke out over campaigns abroad between the KGB and the Defense Ministry.
“Overseas operational activities have always been given priority to the military and military intelligence, the GRU,” Kovalenko said, noting that the KGB lobbied the GRU for greater access and budget.
“But everything changed with the arrival of Putin.”
Putin, who served as a foreign intelligence officer in the KGB for nearly two decades, favored the FSB and granted it more freedoms than it was historically granted.
“It was with his blessing that the first steps to form a PMC began,” Kovalenko added.
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The first indications of Putin’s mercenary force emerged during Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. By 2015, contract soldiers were carrying out Putin’s orders in Syria to support its president, Bashar al-Assad, and to carry out objectives that the Kremlin did not want for its military. Linked to.
Wagner is now believed to operate not just in Ukraine and Syria, but across Africa in the Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Madagascar and possibly Eritrea.
“At first glance, it may seem that PMC Wagner’s presence in a particular African country is business and nothing more,” Kovalenko explained. “For example, in the Central African Republic, this is not just the service of the local dictator and protection from him for cash.
This undated photo released by the French military shows three Russian mercenaries, right, in northern Mali.
(French Army via AP)
“It is also a check on the deposits of precious metals and stones,” he added.
Kovalenko said that control of natural resources is only one of Russia’s goals.
“Russia’s goal is to expand its influence on the African continent, seize control of local government and, as an ultimate goal, create a group of African states loyal to [Moscow]”, Kovalenko said, noting that these tactics are carried out through information warfare, interference in elections and the general destabilization of societies.
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While there are an estimated 10,000 Russian mercenaries spread across Africa, the Wagner company has grown substantially since Putin invaded Ukraine.
An estimated 50,000 Wagner forces are operating in Ukraine, Kirby confirmed Friday, a feat made possible only by Prigozhin’s ability to tap Russia’s criminal system after the group suffered massive losses early in the war. .
Of the 50,000 contract soldiers in Ukraine, about 10,000 are believed to be professional contractors, while 40,000 are convicts, Kirby confirmed.
Following this shift in recruitment, Kovalenko explained, the group was split between professional mercenaries with combat experience who typically work in Africa and the Middle East or train Russian troops in Belarus, and criminal recruits who he said are used as “live meat.” , “corps to fill the front lines.
A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on November 10, 2022.
(AP Photo/Libkos, file)
Kovalenko said that approximately 20,000 Wagner mercenaries were sent to Bakhmut’s axis in Donetsk alone, though he noted that the situation remains “fluid” and therefore it is difficult to know how many have been killed or replaced.
Ukraine estimates that Russia has lost more than 120,000 troops, though it is unclear whether this also includes Wagner’s forces as mercenaries not generally counted among military casualties.
Wagner’s forces and Russian troops do not usually work together. Despite the statement from the Ministry of Defense about the joint effort to capture Soledar, the Russian government maintains a level of detachment from the mercenary group.
“PMC Wagner is dangerous because it maintains contacts with many radical groups around the world,” Kovalenko said, including groups in the Donbas. “The Wagnerites do not comply with the Geneva Convention.”
Wagner’s expert said Prigozhin extorts money from captured Ukrainian soldiers, often returning them “crippled, with appalling bodily injuries,” though Fox News Digital could not independently verify these exchanges.
“Therefore, at the official level, a direct connection between PMC Wagner and the Russian government will never be recognized,” he added. “This makes it easier to ignore the crimes… not just in Ukraine but all over the world.”
This image taken from video shows soldiers burying bodies near a military base in northern Mali. The French military says it has videos of Russian mercenaries burying bodies near a military base in northern Mali.
(French Army via AP)
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Despite the claimed rifts between the Russian defense ministry and Wagner, they share an undeniable copacetic relationship.
“Therein lies the paradox. After all, mercilessly criticizing and attacking the Russian Defense Ministry, Prigozhin bites the hand that provides him with everything necessary for war,” Kovalenko said.
“After all, where did PMC Wagner get its tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, helicopters and planes, artillery and ammunition in large quantities?” she added. “Is this FSB giving Prigozhin? No. All this is provided by the Ministry of Defense.”
