Russian mercenaries build a defensive line of cement pyramids and a moat. However, the project is still unclear.
A very special line of defence. Russian Wagner Group mercenaries announced in mid-October that they had begun construction of “Dragon’s Teeth,” a 200-kilometer anti-tank structure designed to counter the advance of Kievan forces in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine.
But what do we know about this project? The announcement was made on October 19 by oligarch Evguéni Prigojine. “A fortification complex will be built on the contact line, commonly known as the ‘Wagner Line’,” the Kremlin-affiliated businessman said on the social media of his company Concord.
A kind of “Maginot Line”
This type of “Maginot Line,” these fortifications designed to counter the Germans in World War I, consisted of “a multi-level defense,” the Russian says, without giving any details.
It is the work of the Wagner militia, a private company that has acted as “one of the armed arms of the Kremlin” since the beginning of the conflict, recalls General Jérôme Pellistrandi, adviser to BFMTV. It’s made up of “soldiers without faith or law who don’t respect martial law,” he says.
Two 200 km lines and a ditch
Since that announcement, aerial photography has made it possible to find out more. The surprising name of this military building comes first from its shape.
In fact, the “Wagner Line” consists of white cement blocks built in two rows designed to stop the advance of tanks, according to data analyst Benjamin Pittet, based on aerial photographs. A series of trenches follows, then firing positions.
“It prevents the tanks from advancing,” General Pellistrandi told BFMTV. “And since you know exactly the position of your line, bombard with artillery if an enemy tries to cross it,” he indicates.
The map of the project planned by the Russian mercenaries was released by a pro-Wagner outlet posing as the Russian news agency, RIA FAN. It shows a very remote line cutting the Lugansk region in two.
According to CNN calculations, the entire construction should be 200 kilometers long, but only two kilometers have been completed so far, the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region estimates on Telegram. ABC, for its part, estimates the building at 12 km, according to satellite imagery.
The line must also cross the Belgorod region, Russian territory near the Ukrainian border, according to photos shared by the region’s governor on Telegram. Segments will also be installed in the Kursk region, according to the local governor.
A still fragile line
Why such a project? The Russian medium Zvedza TV, devoted to the Moscow armed forces, describes the “Wagner line” as a “second line of defense” in case the Ukrainians manage to cross the first.
To Olivier Kempf, director of the strategic synthesis company La Vigie, this project could sound like a sign of failure by the Russian armed forces.
“The Russians are expecting to give in and are already preparing the next stop line, which would then be an admission of weakness,” he hinted in an interview with France Info.
Alternatively, the Russians could have “learned from their mistakes after the loss of Izioum and Lyman” and act “out of caution”. “Paradoxically, it would then be a sign of strength,” analyzes Olivier Kempf.
Several observers also believe the line remains quite fragile at the moment, reports France Info. The blocks in particular appear to be much lower than those of the Siegfried Line built by the Germans during World War II, are not camouflaged nor buried in the ground.
Offensive staging?
However, the project would not be an order from Moscow, since the Wagner group is paramilitary. This line of defense could serve the oligarch who created it to establish his narrative as the ultimate defender of sovereign territory, AFP estimates.
Last October, Yevgeny Prigoyine rightly castigated the “bureaucrat-enemies” of Moscow who do not support him, those who, as he says, “have been constantly changing scenarios since February” and the start of the war.
“Russian troops are on defense and he’s on the offensive. His main interest is to convert this struggle into political influence, that is, into money,” estimates Ukrainian analyst Mykola Bielieskov.
Juliette Desmonceaux with AFP