RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP
This Thursday, December 22, Washington accuses North Korea of having supplied the Wagner Group with weapons. (A soldier stands on a street in Severodonetsk, Donbass region, eastern Ukraine, April 13, 2022)
INTERNATIONAL – The Russian army under Wagner’s orders? The White House this Thursday, December 22, issued a serious warning about the rise of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which it says is a “rival” to the regular Russian army in Ukraine and which is now receiving armaments from North Korea.
“North Korea made an initial shipment to Wagner, who paid for this equipment. Last month (it) shipped shells and rockets to Russia for Wagner,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the US Executive National Security Council. The United States believes Pyongyang is “considering supplying more equipment,” he said in an interview with reporters.
“Russia is alone and desperate”
“This is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The fact that President Putin is asking North Korea for help shows that Russia is alone and desperate,” commented British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
The White House spokesman also estimated that Wagner currently has 50,000 troops stationed in Ukraine, 10,000 mercenaries and 40,000 recruited from Russian prisons. And that the organization spent $100 million a month on its operations in the country.
Washington, which has already imposed sanctions on this organization of mercenaries present in several conflict zones around the world, will take additional measures “in the coming weeks,” said John Kirby. The paramilitary group is active in Syria, Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic. He was accused of participating in abuses at several locations.
“Russian Men in the Butcher Shop”
“It is obvious to us that Wagner is on the way to becoming a rival power to the regular Russian army and other Russian ministries,” the spokesman said, assuring that the influence in the Kremlin is from the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigoyine only “rising”.
“For months, the Russian army has relied on Wagner to lead the fight in certain areas of Donbass (eastern Ukraine), and in some cases Russian officers are actually under Wagner’s orders,” explained John Kirby. He asserted that Wagner’s “ill-equipped and ill-trained” forces suffered “heavy casualties” on the battlefield.
The American spokesman estimated that Wagner had recently lost 1,000 men in the Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigoyine, who has “no regard for human life,” “sends Russian men to the butcher shop in Bakhmout,” a frontline town where fighting is raging, John Kirby explained.
“He seems far more interested in his influence in the Kremlin than in the men he recruits to fight in Ukraine. All he cares about is looking good with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said.
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