Tag: Wagner Group

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UK inaction let Wagner group flourish and grow, say MPs

Yevgeny Prigozhin

Wagner is a private mercenary army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin that has played a key role in the war in Ukraine…reports Asian Lite News

A decade-long failure by the British government has allowed the Wagner network to grow, spread its tentacles deep into Africa and exploit vulnerable countries, according to a highly critical report from the UK’s foreign affairs select committee.

It called on the government to proscribe the Wagner group in the UK and to make a far more concerted effort to stop it using the City of London as a financial centre.

Wagner is a private mercenary army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin that has played a key role in the war in Ukraine. In June, Prigozhin and his troops staged a short-lived coup against the authorities in Moscow, and the relationship between the Wagner leader and Vladimir Putin is currently unclear.

Dubbed ‘Putin’s chef’ in the West, Yevgeny Prigozhin takes credit for setting up Wagner Group

Describing the overall UK approach to private military companies as complacent, the report says the UK has imposed sanctions on about half as many members of the Wagner group as the US and the EU. The committee has given the Foreign Office a published list of 49 Wagner associates that it says the government should examine.

Evidence given to the committee shows that Wagner not only has worked for Russia but has also, for instance, been active in Libya in the service of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

An anonymised witness who had defected from the group said: “Wagner is involved in promoting the interests of the political elite of Russia outside the countries of the former Soviet Union and the implementation of large-scale business projects under intergovernmental agreements. No other Russian paramilitary structure operates in this way. Wagner has a complete monopoly in this field.”

The committee concluded: “For nearly 10 years, the government has under-played and under-estimated the Wagner network’s activities, as well as the security implications of its significant expansion. The government has not told us anything specific that it is doing to challenge the network’s influence and impunity in countries other than Ukraine, beyond sanctions coordination (which itself appears limited).”

The report reveals that it took six weeks for the government to identify the lead department responsible for countering Wagner. It describes the Foreign Office minister Leo Docherty as being unable “to demonstrate joined-up working within the department, lessons sharing, strategic thinking, or a clear definition of what the Wagner network is”.

The committee said the Wagner group was definitely operating in seven countries, and quite possibly 10 more. The seven were Ukraine, Syria, Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, Libya, Mozambique and Mali.

Alicia Kearns, the chair of the committee, said: “We are deeply concerned by the government’s dismal lack of understanding of Wagner’s hold beyond Europe, in particular their grip on African states. This is a fundamental failing of a joined-up government; ministers appear to be in denial about the consequences of failing to tackle this malign business model before it takes hold. Where the west moves out, Wagner moves in, seeing opportunity in suffering and profit in chaos.

“The UK must provide an alternative for countries that are struggling; those who feel abandoned by the developed world and see the Wagner network as a provider of security. Partnership with the Wagner network is not just beneficial to the Russian government, it is a foreign policy goal of the Kremlin to force failing states to rely on the Wagner network.”

In a novel step, the committee commissioned open-source investigative research as part of its inquiry and as a result named Wagner-linked individuals and organisations.

The committee recommended that national governments that collude with the Wagner group to breach UN sanctions, or that take no steps to protect their populations from Wagner, should be considered for sanctions by the UK government.

The committee criticised the UK decision in late 2022 to withdraw troops from Mali earlier than expected, saying it was taken after merely a write-around among cabinet ministers rather than any considered discussion in which the Foreign Office was closely involved.

It is not clear what efforts the UK made to encourage the Malian authorities to allow the UN mission to operate freely. The decision to withdraw was taken collectively via the national security council, via a “write-round process initiated by the defence secretary”.

ALSO READ: UK warns Russia may begin targeting civilian ships in Black Sea

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US set to take actions against Wagner group

State Department says Prigozhin is under indictment in the US, wants Prigozhin declared persona non grata…reports Asian Lite News

The United States on Tuesday said that Washington will soon announce measures against the Wagner group over its past activities in Africa.

During a regular press briefing on Tuesday, the US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller said, “I would say in terms of this – the disposition of Yevgeniy Prigozhin, he’s under indictment in the United States. We would like to see him here standing trial for the crimes that he is alleged to have committed.”

Responding to a media query on whether Prigozhin should be declared persona non grata, and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko welcoming the Wagner chief to his land, Miller said, “I will just repeat what I said, which is that the decision by Lukashenko to welcome him to Belarus does show that he continues to take steps not in the interest of his own people but in the interest of the Kremlin.”

“I will say, I don’t have any United States assessment of the situation. As I said yesterday, and as Secretary Blinken said, on Sunday, everywhere where Wagner goes, death and destruction follow in their wake. So, the decision by Prez Lukashenko to welcome Prigozhin to Belarus, I think is another example of him choosing the interest of Vladimir Putin and choosing the interest of the Kremlin over the Belarusian people,” said Miller.

He added that the US would continue to support Ukraine and its military to repel the Russian troops.

“In terms of what’s next, on this, to be continued US support for Ukraine and continued US support for the Ukrainian military’s work to repel Russian troops, whether they be Ministry of Defense troops, or whether they be Wagner forces, or whether they be whatever the next iteration, if any, of Wagner forces, look like to repel those forces from Ukraine’s borders.”

“And just as you will see actions from us in the very near future to hold Wagner accountable, you will see continued actions from us in the very near future to continue to supply the Ukrainian military with the equipment, the military equipment that it needs, to press their case on the battlefield,” he said during the State Department briefing on Tuesday.

Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has reached Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Tuesday, reported CNN.

Russia drops “armed mutiny” charges against Prigozhin

Russia dropped the “armed mutiny” criminal charges against Wagner mercenary group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and its members, a domestic intelligence agency said on Tuesday, The New York Times reported.

In a statement, the Federal Security Service said, “It was established that its (Wagner) participants stopped their actions directly aimed at committing a crime on June 24,” adding, “Taking into account these and other circumstances of value to the investigation, the investigative agency resolved on June 27 to terminate the criminal case.” An amnesty for the Wagner fighters who participated in the mutiny was part of a deal brokered on Saturday by Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko between Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin that brought an end to the war and also avoided the possible bloodshed in the country.

The Wagner forces also shot down several Russian aircraft, leading to the deaths of an undisclosed number of airmen whom Putin has praised as “fallen hero pilots.”

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the mercenary group’s fighters were preparing to hand over military equipment to the army, reported The New York Times.

The announcements appeared to be an effort to address one of the questions that have lingered since the weekend mutiny: the fate of Wagner’s heavily armed forces.

Putin has said that all private armies fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine would have to come under the supervision of the Russian Defense Ministry by July 1, including members of Wagner.

But there was no immediate response from the Wagner group or from Prigozhin, who has not been seen publicly since Saturday.

Prigozhin, in an audio message published on Monday by his news service, said that the march was a demonstration of protest and not intended to overthrow power.

Explaining his decision to turn around his march on Moscow, Prigozhin said he wanted to avoid Russian bloodshed.

“We started our march because of an injustice. We went to demonstrate our protest and not to overthrow power in the country,” Prigozhin said in an audio message, Al Jazeera reported.

In his new audio message, Prigozhin said that about 30 of his fighters died in the Russian army’s attack on the mercenary group on Friday. He said the attack came days before Wagner was scheduled to leave its positions on June 30 and hand over equipment to the Southern Military District in Rostov.

“Overnight, we have walked 780 kilometers (about 484 miles). Two hundred-something kilometers (about 125 miles) were left to Moscow,” Prigozhin claimed in the latest audio message, as per CNN.

He said, “Not a single soldier on the ground was killed.” (ANI)

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Putin’s iron grip on power at risk amid Wagner mutiny

Perhaps Prigozhin dreamt he could push Putin into a change at the top of a ministry of defence the Wagner chief has publicly berated for months. But Putin’s address on Saturday morning has eradicated that prospect.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing the most serious threat to his hold on power in all the 23 years he’s run the nuclear state, media reports said on Saturday.

And it is staggering to behold the veneer of total control he has maintained all that time – the ultimate selling point of his autocracy – crumble overnight, CNN reported.

The opening salvos of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s disobedience were at times assessed as a feint – a bid by Putin to keep his generals on edge with a loyal henchman as their outspoken critic. But with Putin forced to admit that Rostov-on-Don, his main military hub, is out of his control puts paid to any idea that this was managed by the Kremlin. It is likely however Wagner’s units have planned some of this for a while.

The justification for this rebellion appeared urgent and spontaneous – an apparent air strike on a Wagner camp in the forest, which the Russian Ministry of Defence has denied – appeared hours after a dissection of the rationale behind the war by Prigozhin, CNN reported.

He partially spoke the truth about the war’s disastrous beginnings: Russia was not under threat from NATO attack, and Russians were not being persecuted. The one deceit he maintained was to suggest Russia’s top brass was behind the invasion plan, and not Putin himself. Wagner’s forces have pulled themselves together very fast and moved quickly into Rostov. That’s hard to do spontaneously in one afternoon, CNN reported.

Wagner chief stands in captured salt mine in Soledar town

Perhaps Prigozhin dreamt he could push Putin into a change at the top of a ministry of defence the Wagner chief has publicly berated for months. But Putin’s address on Saturday morning has eradicated that prospect.

This is now an existential choice for Russia’s elite – between the president’s faltering regime, and the dark, mercenary Frankenstein it created to do its dirty work, which has turned on its masters, as per CNN.

It is a moment of clarity for Russia’s military too. A few years ago, Prigozhin’s mild critiques would have led to elite special forces in balaclavas walking him away. But now he roams freely, with his sights openly on marching to Moscow.

This is not the first time this spring Moscow has looked weak. The drone attack on the Kremlin in May must have caused the elite around Putin to question how on earth the capital’s defences were so weak. Days later, elite country houses were targeted by yet more Ukrainian drones. Among the Russian rich, Friday’s events will remove any question about whether they should doubt Putin’s grip on power, CNN reported.

ALSO READ: Coup in Russia? Wagner group seize military facilities in 2 cities

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Coup in Russia? Wagner group seize military facilities in 2 cities

Wagner chief stands in captured salt mine as Russia captures strategic Soledar town

Yevgeny Prigozhin said the “evil” in the Russian military leadership must be stopped and vowed to “march for justice”, but the Wagner chief clarified that he was not attempting a military coup

Amid an alleged rebellion, the Russian Wagner mercenary group on Saturday claimed to have seized military facilities in the cities of Rostov and Voronezh, despite President Vladimir Putin’s order to neutralise the mercenaries.

In a social media post, the group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he was in Rostov-on-Don, in southern Russia close to the Ukraine border, and that his forces have control of military facilities and the airfield, reports CNN.

He pledged to blockade Rostov and move on to Moscow if Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and top general Valery Gerasimov did not meet him in the city, where Russia’s Southern Military District is headquartered.

The Wagner group also claimed that said it had taken control of Russian military facilities in the second city of Voronezh, saying “the army switches to the side of the people”.

Earlier, the Governor of Voronezh oblast said that “a convoy of military equipment is moving along the M-4 Don Federal Highway”, which connects the city and Rostov-on-Don.

Voronezh is directly north of the Rostov region.

The simmering tensions come after Prigozhin announced that his fighters were entering the Rostov region and that Russian Guards and military police have joined the Wagner group.

Videos circulating on social media and geolocated to Rostov city show military vehicles on the streets and helicopters over the city Saturday morning.

In response to the developments, President Putin said in a televised address to the nation: “Any internal turmoil is a deadly threat to our statehood, to us as a nation. This is a blow to Russia, to our people. And our actions to protect the motherland from such a threat will be tough.

“All those who deliberately embarked on the path of betrayal, who prepared an armed rebellion, who embarked on the path of blackmail and terrorist methods, will suffer inevitable punishment and answer both before the law and before our people.

“I urge those who are being dragged into this crime not to make a fatal and tragic mistake, but to make the only right choice — to stop participating in criminal acts.”

On Saturday morning, Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee announced that a counter-terrorist operation regime has been introduced in Moscow, the region and the Voronezh to prevent possible terrorist acts.

On Friday night, the Kremlin ordered the arrest of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin after Russian intelligence accused him of calling for an “armed rebellion”.

Late Friday night, the Federal Security Service (FSB) urged Wagner mercenaries to “stop the columns” and detain their leader after the latter vowed retaliation over the Russian military allegedly killing a “huge amount” of Wagner fighters during a strike on a camp earlier in the day, reports CNN.

Russian state TV also interrupted programming Friday night to report a Defence Ministry statement claiming Prigozhin’s comments “did not correspond to reality” and demanded him to halt “illegal actions”.

Earlier on Friday, Prigozhin had claimed that his forces crossed the border into Russia from Ukraine, but did not give any proof to back his allegation.

“Many dozens, tens of thousands of lives, of Russian soldiers will be punished. I ask that nobody put up any resistance.”

He also said the “evil” in the Russian military leadership must be stopped and vowed to “march for justice”, but the Wagner chief clarified that he was not attempting a military coup

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