Russia-Ukraine War: Researchers at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) claimed this morning (Friday) that over 10 million American citizens have applied to join “Force Wagner”, the businessman’s private mercenary militia Yevgeny Prigozhin, fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine. This, a day after the militia reported that they had “completely stopped” the practice of recruiting Russian prisoners to fight on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In the press release shared on the page of the militia on the Russian social network VKontakte, Prigozhin emphasized that “the decision was made after a recruitment ad was published for the American audience and was a huge success”, this on the grounds that the ad inspired “millions of Americans to fight against NATO”. According to him, “the ad It was a huge success, we received more than 10 million applications from US citizens interested in joining the group. At the moment, we are examining about a million American citizens, and therefore we have suspended the recruitment of volunteers from Russian prisons.”
In the Wagner group’s “recruitment” video, which recently surfaced on the Internet, a man with a heavy Russian accent can be heard addressing mostly veterans who support former President Donald Trump, and using some of his campaign slogans – “Make America Great Again.” The narrator turns to the Americans and says: “You were a hero for your country, you gave the best years to the army, you dreamed of defeating evil, you dreamed of doing a lot to make America great again.”
The video then takes on a more militant tone, fueling conspiracy theories that support “shadow rule” and that the government is secretly held by wealthy families. Later, the narrator turns to the Americans again and declares: “In reality, you are serving the families who decided who will live under their rule and who will not. You have begun to understand that this is the side of evil,” with images from the events of the Capitol on January 6 appearing in the background. “This is not the America that the founding fathers dreamed of, the only country fighting evil is Russia,” the video said. The video ends with an appeal to “the true patriots of great America to join the ranks of Russia’s fighters” before it is “too late.”
However, CNN reported that there are indeed American citizens fighting alongside Russia in the war in Ukraine, but the number is very low. Therefore, there is no evidence that millions of Americans are “eager” to fight the war in Ukraine, alongside the Russian army.