Last Saturday, on the fringes of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, an unprecedented event took place: the Wagner group, on the orders of its leader Evgueni Prigoyine, rebelled against Putin. He began a march towards Moscow, but stopped 200 km from the capital, and then turned back. Suffice it to say that Russia trembled and that the lack of understanding was overwhelming. So it’s time to come back to what happened. But first, let’s take a look at the Wagner Group, a creepy organization.

The Wagner group consists of mercenaries

This means it is a paramilitary organization that can be hired by any country or person with enough money to fund it. The soldiers are therefore not assigned to a specific country, but form a “private” force that can be “hired” to carry out military operations.

The Wagner Group has other sources of financing

In addition to receiving money from those who hire them (Putin in this case), the Wagner Group also invests in mining (e.g. in Sudan) and oil and gas exploration, particularly in Syria. It’s called income diversification, like in “any” business.

The Wagner Group has always been very close to Russia

We first heard about the Wagner Group in 2014, during Russia’s annexation of Crimea. And if they went with Putin, it was no coincidence, because the Wagner organization was unofficially under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Moreover, their leader Prigoyine was photographed next to Putin in the Kremlin back in 2016, proving the closeness between Wagner and Russia. However, because Russia has a ban on using a private paramilitary force like Wagner, the country has always denied having any ties with them. In reality, to circumvent the law, Russia pays companies close to Prigozhin, who then donate some of their money to Wagner to fund his campaigns. This is an open secret, especially since Wagner’s soldiers have Russian equipment and train on Russian facilities. They don’t do it to us.

The Wagner group consists mostly of prisoners and neo-Nazis

A large part of the soldiers of the Wagner organization are recruited in prison: they are promised freedom, in exchange for six months at the front. This is all good for Russia, as it allows them to sacrifice soldiers without having to “count” them to Russian losses. You should also know that most Wagner members are neo-Nazis, Russian nationalists and Slavic identities. In short, nice people.

The origins of the Wagner group are neo-Nazi

The organization was founded by one Dmitri Utkin, a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian army known for being neo-Nazi nostalgic of the Third Reich. He also decided to name his group “Wagner” in homage to the German composer Richard Wagner, who was admired by Hitler and whose music became one of the Aryan symbols of the Third Reich. Therefore, it is difficult to distance the Wagner group from Nazi ideology.

The group would number between 25,000 and 50,000 men

In December 2022, the Pentagon counted around 50,000 soldiers in Wagner’s ranks; today, according to their leader Prigojine, there are still at least 25,000. Of course, it’s difficult to learn more about it since it’s complicated to get accurate information about this organization, but you should know that it’s quite large for a private army.

Numerous war crimes are suspected of the Wagner group

Its members are said to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali, Libya, the Central African Republic, Syria and Ukraine. We are indeed dealing with men who lack morals and are capable of massacring civilians or killing their own deserters by banging their heads against concrete blocks with sledgehammers. The worst thing is that lately they’re happily revealing their “feats” on TikTok like the whole world needs to see it. In short, humanity would gain much if the Wagner group disappeared forever.

The leader of the Wagner group is nicknamed “Putin’s Butcher”

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a Russian oligarch who, as we said, is close to Putin. A ex-felon serving multiple prison sentences for theft and fraud, he began opening hot dog fast food outlets in the hospitality industry and made a fortune. The sequel is a bit vague, but Prigojine became the leader of the Wagner paramilitary group in 2014 and remains at the helm to this day. Nicknamed “Putin’s Butcher” is his own, but it fits well with his personality as a man who sows mass graves and horribly executes deserters wherever his troops pass. The guy you don’t want to meet.

Prigozhin is no longer so close to Russia

For a year Prigoyine had been at odds with the Russian generals and authorities, whom he insulted and accused of turning Wagner into cannon fodder. In particular, he criticizes the Russian invasion, which he considers poorly organized and which he describes as a “complete disaster”. In short, things are not going well between him and Putin (whom he calls a “stupid grandfather”), and these tensions peaked on June 24.

Wagner almost marched to Moscow

This brings us to what happened on the night of June 23-24, 2023. After several months of conflict between Putin and Prigoyine, the latter decided to launch an uprising and sent his troops towards Moscow. His 25,000 men advanced rapidly while the Russian army was still mobilized at the front, and Putin spoke up to call Prigozhin a traitor. Eventually, however, Wagner stopped 200 km from the capital before Prigojine announced that he would be backing down. Putin has since dropped his charges against Prigozhin and Wagner, suggesting there were negotiations between the two sides. What did Putin promise Prigozhin to stop his coup? We don’t know at the moment, we may never know, but what is certain is that it has pretty much weakened the Russian power, which seems to be very weak. We will see what effect all this will have on the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine.

L’mutiny the mercenary the Wagner group arrived within a radius of 200 kilometers Fly demonstrated the strength of these on the field paramilitaries created and directed by Yevgeny Prigozhin. However, the actual weight of this venture company is even higher as it has been unofficially represented by the Wagner Group for years Moscow’s foreign policy in the Middle East and especially on the African continent.

According to some American studies, the Wagner group is present in Ben twelve African countries with a wide range of interests. It goes from Trade in valuable mineralsatTraining of armies premises until Control of the security apparatus and domestic politics. Wagnerites have long been i Central African Republic champions where they act as President Touadera’s praetorians, managing the gold mines of one of the poorest countries in the world.

In Sudan It was Prigozhin’s men who trained the Hemeti Rapid Support Forces that started an anti-government civil war from April 15, but they too were armed by the Russians. Equally strong hold mali where the Wagner group staged two coups in less than two years to put in power a young captain who drove out the French Bamako Surrender of his country to the representatives of Fly.

In West Africa, after Mali, the dominoes have fallen Guinea and the Burkina Fasoall parts of what was once named France and thanks to the presence of these mercenaries at a “Russiafrique“. After the failed coup in Guinea Bissauthe Wagner Group has had this in its sights for a long time Ivory Coast, the most valuable jewel of the remains of French rule in West Africa. But Prigozhin’s private enterprise began its African penetration from the coast Libyawhere connections to the general Khalifa Haftartrue leader of Cyrenaicaare strong and rooted.

It was the Russians who blocked his advance on the capital Tripoli to avoid a head-on collision with the Türkiye, the godfather of the crumbling government based in Tripolitania. If in Libya, Mali, Central Africa, Sudan and Burkina Faso it is military might that allows the Wagner groups to dominate the country, Eritrea And Zimbabwe It is economic interests that give Prigozhin society a key role.

An outlet on Red Sea and control of the mines are the calling card of the Wagner Group, which has also established mining companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in other countries Madagascarwithout forgetting the presence in South Africa, the most important country on the continent. An articulated mapping made over the years that has managed to exploit that weakness of the West and the fragility of many governments that have had to shake the Wagner Group solution jihadist as happened in Mali or Burkina Faso. While it appears that some senior Wagner officers have already left the Ukrainian front for Africa, it remains to be seen how the Kremlin has managed this unofficial branch of its power over the years it has become a fully autonomous power worth billions in revenue.

Matteo Giusti, professional journalist, Africanist and writer, collaborates with Limes, Domino, Panorama, Il Manifesto, Il Corriere del Ticino and Rai. He has acquired a great knowledge of the African continent, which he has visited and analyzed many times, also thanks to the contacts with the local population. In 2021 he published the book “L’Omicidio Attanasio, morte di una ambassador” and in 2022 “Your Africa, the new powers against old Europe”, both published by Castelvecchi

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Matteo Giusti

Quito, June 26 (Prensa Latina) José Cabrera, a member of the National Electoral Council (CNE), reported today that only seven of the eight candidatures for Ecuador’s presidency were “firm” and therefore unlikely to move forward with the official campaign.

In order to start the proselytizing phase with publicity on the streets and in the media in view of the early general elections on August 20th, it is necessary that none of the applicants have outstanding legal means.

This is the case of Xavier Hervas, whose application before the Electoral Court (TCE) was challenged by the Revolución Ciudadana movement for allegedly holding shares in companies in tax havens, which is prohibited under Ecuadorian law.

“We have to wait for the TCE and then we will see if it is necessary to change the electoral calendar or not,” Cabrera said in statements to the press this Monday.

Last week, the CNE spokesman himself raised the possibility of bringing forward the July 4th campaign, but the situation of Hervas and the Reto movement distances that possibility.

For the time being, the original schedule will be maintained, with the official period for submitting candidatures between August 8th and 17th.

Although the campaign hasn’t started yet, political organizations are using digital platforms to advertise vote-seeking messages, as well as meetings and tours of their candidates through neighborhoods across the country.

Elections to elect the executive and legislative branches are scheduled for August 20.

If necessary, a possible runoff election would be held on October 15 and the appointment of the new president would be made in November.

Those who are elected will complete the 2021-2025 period, punctuated by the so-called “cross death” decreed by President Guillermo Lasso last May.

jha/avr

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, insurgent mercenaries from the Wagner Group can either join the Russian army or “go to Belarus”. He warned in a public statement late on Monday that any attempt at blackmail in Russia was “doomed to fail”. Putin thanked Russians for their “patriotism” during the abortive Wagner uprising over the weekend.

“I thank all the soldiers, intelligence workers, who stood in the way of the insurgents,” Putin said in a speech broadcast on state television on Monday. Everything was done under his orders to avoid bloodshed. “It took time,” Putin said. “The armed insurrection would have been crushed that way.”

Putin ‘seriously damaged’

If mercenaries and regular troops had fired at each other, it would have benefited Kiev and the West in particular, Putin explained. There they already expected Russia to disintegrate. But Russian society was united in its opposition to the uprising. In the end, the revolutionaries would have recognized this and given up.

German military expert Nico Lange spoke Monday night on ORF’s ZiB 2 of a “gang war” in which the supposedly strong Russian state was “absent”. Lange doesn’t believe in a production. For security experts at the Munich Security Conference, Putin is “severely damaged”. In addition, the head of the Kremlin is the greatest security risk for the West, Lange said on the ORF program.

Russian casualties in the uprising

On Saturday night, mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin made serious accusations against Russia’s Ministry of Defense and accused Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering an attack on a military camp by Wagner’s troops fighting for Moscow. He then occupied the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and sent some units of his troops to Moscow. Its virtually unimpeded advance on Moscow, which only stopped a good 200 kilometers from the Russian capital because Prigozhin had given up, sent shock waves through the country.

In his speech, Putin tried to maintain the impression that the organs of power and security were incapable of acting. He praised the courage and self-sacrifice of Russian pilots who were killed while fighting insurgents. It was the first time that the Russian leadership acknowledged casualties during the uprising.

No resignation of defense secretary

The Kremlin chief also thanked Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko for mediating the conflict with Wagner’s boss Prigozhin. His former confidant Prigozhin is said to have found refuge in Belarus after he withdrew from the march on Moscow on Saturday. Other Wagner fighters could do the same. Putin emphasized that his amnesty offer was valid.

Before the speech, many political observers expected the resignation of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who had been criticized for months for the failure of the aggressive war against Ukraine and also had nothing to oppose Prigozhin’s uprising. But despite the criticism, Putin has – at least for now – sided with Shoigu, also because he is considered a personal confidant of the Kremlin chief.

According to a report by the Interfax news agency, government spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that Putin would meet with the heads of the security services. Participants in the meeting include Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Attorney General Igor Krasnov, head of the Kremlin administration Anton Vaino, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, head of the FSB secret service Alexander Bortnikov, head of the National Guard Viktor Solotov, head of the Federal Protection Service Dmitry Kochnev and head of the Federal Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. (apa/afp/dpa)

Do you consider yourself a lucky person? If the answer was no, note that some recent studies may point to a common reason for this in most people. Research has shown that there is an agerelated ‘happiness curve’. See what is the saddest phase in everyone’s life.

Read more: Do you want to stave off depression? The secret is to do the exercises this way

The saddest and most frustrating phase has a lot to do with the expectations most people have of their own lives. You know the story about how we want to be when we reach a certain age? Well then! A frustration Not getting exactly what you wanted at the “right” time can be the cause of feeling depressed.

lucky curve

You studies suggest that the saddest phase occurs towards the late 40s, followed by an increase in wellbeing with age. The happiest moments are at the beginning and after the age of 50. After the age of 50, people tend to be more grateful for what they have. This socalled happiness curve is more like a huge roller coaster ride of emotions in the course of life.

Science shows that there are indeed ups and downs that are common to all human beings. That is why many say that at a certain point in their lives they feel sad and discouraged or very frustrated. Research by Dartmouth University economist David Blanchflower and former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has found that there is indeed a particular period when we are all saddest.

A study published in January 2020 by the US National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed data from 134 different countries. The results showed that there is an apex sadness and frustration into the late 40’s, with all the emotions of middle age. After that, the next step is for the human being to enter into an aging cycle of valuing life that promotes an increase in wellbeing.