Wagner Fighters Suffer Epic Fail Before The Whole World

Russian billionaire Prigozhin found himself in a scandal.

The Russian so-called private military company Wagner (League), which is controlled by the SID, has not only lowered the bar for recruiting mercenaries but has also started to recruit prisoners. Moreover, preference goes to those convicted of the gravest crimes: murder and assault related to robbery. Moreover, the participation of the Russian oligarch and right-hand of Putin Yevgeny Prigozhin caused a scandal.

The article OBOZREVATEL covers it in detail.

Dirty work

Since its establishment in 2014, PMC Wagner has not been registered either in the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation or among legal entities. The authorities have repeatedly stated, "there are no PMCs in Russia". This is partially true. The Wagner Group is a disguised unit in the structure of the Russian Defense Ministry. The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, better known as the SID, commands Wagner fighters.

For all these years, the Wagner fighters have been doing the dirtiest work in the flashpoints, including Ukraine. When Russia could not openly send its soldiers to this or that country, "musicians" went there.

The recruitment to the Wagner Group has always been meticulous: only Russian citizens born on Russian territory, with experience in combat operations, and excellent physical condition. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the bar has been lowered. The recruitment center in Molkino near Krasnodar began to enlist residents of the L/DPR and occupied Crimea - they had previously been considered unreliable.

However, in July, the Wagner Group hit another rock bottom: recruitment of mercenaries in Russian penitentiaries began.

Recruitment behind bars

The new reports on the recruitment of "elite" mercenaries in maximum security colonies could be taken as a hoax or a fake, but it was the Russian media which voiced this information. In addition, human rights activists confirmed it. They have a good knowledge of the situation in Russian penitentiaries.

According to the newspaper Verstka, groups of recruiters visited at least seventeen penal colonies in ten Russian regions. These include the Arkhangelsk, Tula, Yaroslavl, Leningrad, Ryazan, Novgorod, and Pskov regions, the Komi and Karelian republics, and St. Petersburg.

Convicted criminals who agreed to sign the contract were promised 200,000 rubles per month (about 67,000 UAH), payment for injuries of 300,000 rubles (about 100,000 UAH). In the event of death during military operations, the families would receive as much as 5 million rubles (about 1,670,000 UAH). The key point is the pardon of the President of the Russian Federation after six months of "service".

Given the nature of crimes - assault related to robbery and murder - such a promise plays out in fresh colours.

As for the requirements for potential applicants, there are only two: good physical condition and "the right attitude towards the Kremlin's course regarding Ukraine". As a result, about 20% of the criminals were ready to go to war in Ukraine.

Recruitment in prisons caused mockery among the fighters of legal private military companies in other countries and shock among Wagner fighters: the "elite" was stained with indelible shame.

"Your decision is the pact with the devil"

Regional officers of the Federal Security Service (FSS), heads of departments of the Federal Penitentiary Service but most surprisingly, Prigozhin himself were among the recruiters.

According to international investigators and various intelligence agencies, the so-called PMC is financed directly by the Russian government and "senior businessmen" - the latter also includes St. Petersburg restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin.

He is the right-hand of the Russian president (he is also often called the "personal chef of Putin"), one of the largest recipients of government contracts, and one of the 100 richest people in Russia. Prigozhin was behind the establishment of the Wagner Group and is now its unofficial curator.

The oligarch touring the colonies to recruit prisoners sounds like science fiction. However, it is true.

One of the prisoners recorded Prigozhin's speech when he arrived at prison No. 2 in Rybinsk (Yaroslavl region). The convict, himself no angel, notes that "Prigozhin looked like a maniac".

He drew such a conclusion after the billionaire's appeal to the inmates.

According to him, "Putin's cook" exaltedly described all the benefits of "work" for the PMC and showered them with promises. However, he frankly admitted that this was a "pact with the devil".

In 2021, the FBI announced the reward for assistance in Prigozhin's detention.

Another "emphatic" statement by the Russian billionaire ("My guys enter African countries and leave not a single living thing there in two days. Now they are smashing their enemies in Ukraine in the same way") is far from the truth. But Prigozhin opted to be silent about it. It was the heavy losses of Wagner fighters in Ukraine that forced them to set "mass recruitment", and even among convicts.

There was corroborating information about the deaths of mercenaries in Ukraine in audio intercepts between Russian occupants, as well as in data provided by the Ukrainian military intelligence service.

According to OBOZREVATEL's intelligence source, Prigozhin's current "tour" to prisons only proves the critical situation among Wagner fighters in Ukraine: "Their assault squads are thinning day by day. Mercenaries have faced such losses for the first time."

That is why "Putin's cook" has to tour the prisons to "motivate with his presence". He says bluntly: "We should win this damn war at any cost." After all, Prigozhin is well aware that if Ukraine wins (it's inevitable) he will die. He cannot leave Russia. He will be liquidated in the country.