Founded in 2013 by the oligarch Prigozhin (“Putin’s cook”) and a former colonel of Hitler’s nostalgic crane. The salary of mercenaries is five times that of a Moscow soldier
“The Wagner Brigade has 50,000 men deployed in the Ukraine.” “It’s an international criminal group.” “It receives weapons from North Korea.” The role of mercenaries sent from Moscow is becoming increasingly important on the theater of war. In the last few hours, the United States has unveiled a series of news reports concerning private professional soldiers in action on the ground in Donbass. Furthermore, we have returned to speak of the Wagner brigade as a subject in contrast with the Kremlin line, often in contrast with the conduct adopted by Defense Minister Shoigu and Russian military leaders. In practice, the militia is acquiring a growing and autonomous power. But what is it and where was Wagner born? Here in a nutshell.
* The birth – 2013 is the year in which a group of professional militiamen begins to operate which will then give life to the real Wagner brigade. Works at first like security force for companies that obtain contracts. Two characters can be considered its founding fathers. The first is Evgeny Prigozhin, hastily defined as «Putin’s cook», because he is active in the restaurant sector but above all because he is very much within the circle of the «tsar’s» closest collaborators. In reality he is therefore a powerful oligarch who acts as manager and “political arm” of the Wagner Brigade. Less known but just as important, it is Dimitrj Utkin, until 2013 lieutenant colonel of the GRU (the Moscow intelligence service) – is considered the military soul of the brigade, the first head of field operations. Both Prigozhin and Utkin are subjected to sanctions by the US and the EU.
* Who are the militiamen – The original nucleus is composed of veterans of the Russian Armed Forces with an average age close to 40, therefore not very young. On the number of effective figures are very divergent: until a few months ago it was estimated that Wagner could count ssteadily out of about 6,000 men. The figures provided by White House they change that scenario a lot since they talk about 50,000 military enlisted. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby claims that 40,000 of them are ex-convicts recruited in Russian prisons. It should be remembered that the last mobilization decided by the Kremlin aimed at recruiting 300,000 soldiers and stopped at about half.
* How much they are paid – Some British newspapers (including the Times) claim that a mercenary in the pay of Prigozhin and Utkin receives a monthly salary of around 2,000-2,300 euros. This could explain the “boom” of enlisted people. Indeed, a regular Russian soldier has a salary of just over 400 euros. There he enters Wagner is required to serve for a period of approximately 10 years.
* The reason for the name and the ideology – Dimitrj Utkin is considered a fanatic and nostalgic neo-Nazias evidenced by the tattoos on his body. The military leader is admirer of the saga of the Nibelungs, of Teutonic mythology and thus also of the music of Richard Wagner. Other than that he is an avid supporter of the Russian nationalismof Alexander Dugin’s Eurasian theories proclaiming the contrast between the Russian, Orthodox Christian world and the Western, secular and liberal world. In any case, the militiamen are trained to protect Moscow’s interests everywhere.
* Armament – The tactic adopted by the brigade involves the action of small groups moving with very rapid action and effective. Light weapons prevail in the endowment, starting with the machine gun Kalashnikov Ak 47 but also grenade launchers and missile launchers anti-tank that can be carried on the shoulder. There is no shortage of artillery departments, equipped with howitzers, missile systems mounted on armored vehicles and trucks and lately also drones. Curiosity: in deference to the neo-Nazi ideology of the founder, the Wagner militiamen wear un helmet very similar to that of the SS.
* But they are not soldiers – What is the legal status of mercenaries? I obviously am employees of a private company but as such they are not subject to a series of international conventions and treaties concerning members of regular armies. For example, if caught they cannot be considered prisoners of war and how much “illegitimate combatants” are not subject to the Geneva Convention. Therefore their work must be assessed in accordance with the ordinary penal code. Officially not even Moscow recognized an official role.
* Where they acted – The role of “security” for the benefit of Russian subjects or companies outside the borders of the country was soon set aside. The presence of departments of Wagner is established in Sudan, Burkina Faso in the Central African Republic
. Equally certain is their presence in the war in Syria (particularly in the conquest of Palmyra) and in Libya. As for Ukraine, Wagner has taken an active part in the raging battle around Bakhmut and Soledar in recent days; in 2014 some departments also took part in the invasion of Crimea.
January 21, 2023 (change January 21, 2023 | 1:23 pm)
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