After Prigozhin and his feared 25,000-strong Wagner militia reportedly seized control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, it seems the mercenary leader has grown bolder in challenging Vladimir Putin’s seizure of power.
Prigozhin issued a new message around 7:30 a.m. Moscow time on Saturday, saying his men had infiltrated the Southern Defense Command in Rostov-on-Don and that the city’s airfield was under his control.
They said they were “ready to die” and vowed revenge for a military strike by Putin’s forces in which the mercenary leader said some of his men were killed.
Prigozhin, who was once a confidant of Vladimir Putin before declaring war on Moscow’s military leadership last night, said in a video that the senior officer at the command post fled when he learned Wagner troops were approaching.
He said he had 25,000 troops under his command and would punish the Russian military chief, Shoigu, with an armed uprising. He urged the army not to resist: “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice.”
But how did Russia’s shady Wagnerian mercenary group gain enough notoriety to launch such a move against the Russian leader, who today called the actions of Prigozhin and his mercenaries a “treason”?
Here, Web tells the story of Wagner’s origins and development, illuminates his shady activities around the world and presents a selection of his most important members.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a video released early Saturday morning that his troops had reached the strategically important city of Rostov-on-Don
The Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner is a mercenary group that for years acted as Putin’s personal enforcement gang and is now heavily involved in the war in Ukraine
A fighter from the private mercenary group Wagner shows a victory sign on a street near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don
The picture shows a Wagner mercenary wearing the insignia of the group in eastern Ukraine
The Wagner group’s name is believed to derive from the call sign of one of its task force commanders, Dmitry Utkin, given his love for the famous German composer Richard Wagner.
The private military organization is responsible for much of Moscow’s military success on the Ukraine front, and its fighters have earned a reputation for their brazen attacks – and brutal treatment of their enemies.
Wagner agents also made headlines with medieval mass executions of Ukrainian captives and renegade Russians, using sledgehammers and dull knives to violently annihilate the helpless accused.
However, in recent months Prigozhin has openly accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russia’s top general Valery Gerasimov of rank incompetence and denial of Wagner ammunition and support.
As his violent rhetoric appears to have translated into action, the FSB said it had launched a criminal case against him for inciting armed mutiny, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Wagner led Russia’s capture of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut last month, Russia’s biggest victory in a decade, and Prigozhin used his success on the battlefield to criticize Defense Ministry leadership with seemingly with impunity.
Prigozhin, 62, has stepped up his verbal attacks on President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks, including questioning the necessity of the bloody war in Ukraine after months of Wagner PMC stepping up the Russian offensive there.
The Defense Ministry has largely ignored his criticism, at least publicly, as tensions between Moscow and the private military company are now escalating dramatically.
Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin is the main financier and undeniable face of the Wagner Group, providing regular updates from the front lines in Ukraine
Putin described the group’s actions as a “criminal adventure campaign” that “equates to an armed mutiny.”
A group of Wagner fighters pictured on the street of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday morning
What exactly is the Wagner group?
The Private Military Company (PMC) Wagner is a mercenary group that for years acted as Putin’s personal enforcement gang and is controlled in part by its main financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian military intelligence agency GRU.
Founded in 2014, Wagner began arming and organizing separatist groups in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region immediately after the annexation of Crimea.
In the eight years between the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale war in Ukraine, Wagner mercenaries were deployed abroad to covertly further Russian interests.
With the government not officially acknowledging their existence, it is plausible for Putin to deny foreign operations.
They were heavily involved in the Russian intervention in Syria, where they helped shore up the Assad regime, and subsequently operated in countries across Africa, including Mali, the Central African Republic, Mozambique and Sudan.
Their goals vary by region, but their responsibilities almost always include bolstering the armed forces of the Kremlin’s favored regimes by supplying weapons and training, as well as providing additional security services.
In return, Russia gains access to natural resources, investment opportunities, and geopolitical influence.
A key part of most Wagner jobs is gaining control of the local populace and elements hostile to the regime – a task at which the mercenaries have proven particularly ruthless.
The mercenaries have earned a reputation for violence and brutality and will use any means necessary to achieve their goals.
The Wagner group is now fighting alongside regular Russian Army soldiers in Ukraine and is credited with contributing in large part to Moscow’s successes at the front.
In the fall of 2022, the group launched a mass recruitment campaign in Russian prisons, recruiting hardened criminals to bolster their ranks and sending them en masse on suicide missions in Ukraine in an attempt to gain ground using “human wave” tactics.
Wagner received less support from the Russian military earlier this year as Russian Armed Forces Commander Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared to be trying to lessen its effectiveness with seemingly selfish intentions.
Wagner’s access to Russia’s prisons to replenish his ranks has also been abolished in favor of the Russian regular army, and Prigozhin has routinely accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of restricting ammunition supplies.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is pictured in a Russian prison during a military recruitment drive
Prigozhin (left) has recruited himself as a Kremlin caterer for Putin (centre).
Wagner’s key player
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Russian oligarch Prigozhin is Wagner’s main financier and has been the face of the organization since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 61-year-old has long since courted Putin when his catering company provided catering services for the Russian president and his Kremlin elites – a role that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef”.
But his role as the de facto owner of Wagner has given him far greater importance.
For years he denied any affiliation with the mercenary group and filed lawsuits against several media organizations that reported his involvement.
But as the world became aware of Wagner’s impact in Ukraine, Prigozhin admitted in September that he had “founded” the group in 2014.
“I cleaned the old guns myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with that,” Prigozhin said in a statement from his Concord catering company on Russia’s VKontakte social media site.
“A group of patriots emerged that later became known as the Wagner Battalion.” I am proud that I was able to defend their right to protect their country’s interests.”
Prigozhin rose to worldwide fame last year when he was filmed in his capacity as Wagner’s frontman visiting several Russian penal colonies.
There he delivered rousing speeches to hordes of violent prisoners, offering to have their criminal records erased in exchange for service at the front in Ukraine.
He is now regularly seen in military fatigues near the front lines, ranting about the Russian military leadership, whom he accuses of starving Wagner troops of ammunition.
Over the past two weeks, Prigozhin has escalated his anger against the Russian command system to unprecedented levels, posting swearwords against Gerasimov and Shoigu, threatening to withdraw his troops from Bakhmut, and apparently even calling Putin “a complete asshole” and “lucky grandfather.” “.
Dmitry Utkin and Andrey Troshev
Utkin is an operational commander and behind-the-scenes leader of the Wagner Group, who many believe was a co-founder of the organization.
Utkin, a sinister former lieutenant colonel in the Russian special forces Spetsnaz, received several medals for bravery on the battlefield and served in the military until 2013.
He then deployed to Syria as part of the Russian intervention, where he repelled rebel groups and maintained Bashar al-Assad’s presidency through a Russian-run Hong Kong-based private military company called the Slavonic Corps.
Utkin is a staunch Russian nationalist who sports Nazi tattoos and is reportedly fascinated by Hitler’s Third Reich.
In the picture is Dmitry Utkin. An SS lightning bolt tattoo can be seen on his neck
Andrei Troshev, a former armed forces colonel who earned the title Hero of the Russian Federation, is considered one of Wagner’s top commanders
Pictured in this image from a 2016 honors ceremony in Russia are Utkin (right) and Troshev (second from left) with Vladimir Putin (center).
An investigation into Utkin conducted by Bellingcat concluded that Utkin may in fact be more of a field commander of sorts in the Wagner group, reporting to a select group of increasingly senior operational leaders.
One of them is said to be Andrei Troshev, a former armed forces colonel whose military service earned him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation – Russia’s highest military decoration.
Troshev has been dubbed the Wagner group’s “chief of staff” by the European Union and appears to have priority over Utkin in Wagner’s command structure, according to a series of intercepted communications analyzed by Bellingcat investigators.
Both individuals were photographed alongside Putin at an official memorial event commemorating recipients of state awards in 2016.
Konstantin Pikalov
Konstantin Pikalov is generally regarded as the organizer of Wagner’s missions in Africa
Pikalov, often referred to by his codename “Mazay,” is another Russian Armed Forces veteran believed to be in charge of the PMC’s operations on the African continent.
The former colonel runs the private security company Convoy, which is headquartered in St. Petersburg and has provided security services to Russian advisers working with senior officials in several African countries, including Central African Republic (CAR), Madagascar and Mozambique.
However, Pikalov, 55, is believed to also be orchestrating much of the Wagner Group’s ongoing operations across Africa, using Convoy as a cover to act as a liaison between Russian-backed African officials and Russia’s GRU.
According to a joint investigation by The Insider and Bellingcat, the former colonel was closely linked to the 2018 killing of three Russian journalists who traveled to the Central African Republic to investigate mineral mining by Russian companies.
And the government of Ukraine described Pikalov as “responsible for serious human rights abuses committed by the Wagner group in Central African Republic and several African countries, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings.”
Director of Russia’s Military Intelligence Service Igor Kostyukov attends the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security in Moscow, Russia, June 23, 2021
Alexei Dyumin, the current governor of Russia’s Tula region, is pictured in his official portrait photograph
Igor Kostyukov and Alexei Dyumin
Kostyukov, 62, is a decorated naval admiral and has been the head of Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit since November 2018.
Although he was not directly involved in founding or directing the Wagner group in its early years, the mercenary force’s close ties to the GRU mean that Kostyukov is undoubtedly involved in the operations of the PMC.
His position as GRU chief means that all GRU officers and agents, including the aforementioned Utkin and Troshev, ultimately report to him and must carry out whatever orders the admiral sees fit.
Alexei Dyumin is now known for his close personal relationship with Putin.
The former personal bodyguard and confidant of the president reportedly gained his boss’s affections when he shooed a bear out of one of his presidential residences.
But Dyumin is far more than just a bodyguard – he is also deputy defense minister and deputy head of the GRU.
His direct involvement in the annexation of Crimea earned him a promotion to lieutenant general – and since then he has enjoyed great political success as governor of Russia’s Tula region.
Presentation by Pablo Lavandeira. Photo: FBC Melgar.
