The owner of the Infamous Military outfit shared his remarks on the conditions faced by his men and how the group is heading towards its end in a video interview
Russia’s infamous Private Military Organization, Wagner Group may not have a future. The owner of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhin gave his comments on the video to a blogger. However, there is no clarity on the nature of the seriousness of the remarks he made.
In recent times, he has been critical towards the lack of support from the Russian Army and even accused the top-level officials of betraying his men. He also expressed his concerns about the heavy losses suffered last week by his troops from the Ukrainian Counter-Attack at Bakhmut.
What is the Wagner Group?
The Wagner Group, also known as Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) is a Russian paramilitary organization. Academics describe the military group as a network of mercenaries, which consists of Retired Russian Army Officials. This organization operates beyond Russian Laws where Private Military Contractors are banned. It is often assumed to be the de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The members sign a 10-year-long Non-Disclousure Agreement and surrender all of their official documents upon joining. The new recruits are not allowed to keep any social media accounts or share their location details with their families. The recruitees’ access to their electronic devices is restricted. In case of a breach of confidentiality, the member’s contract is terminated without any compensation.
Earlier this year, the United States designated Wagner as a transnational criminal organisation. The Western power has also frozen the militant group’s US-based assets on the grounds of helping Russia’s military in the Ukraine war. Lithuania and Estonia have marked the group as a terrorist organization
Operations of the Group
Wagner Group came into the global spotlight after their involvement in the Donbas war in Ukraine where they supported the Pro-Russian separatist groups in Ukraine. From there on, the group have participated in global conflicts which also include the Syrian Civil War, Moura Massacre in Mali, the Second Libya Civil War and skirmishes in Sudan, the Central African Republic fighting with the forces siding with the Russian Government. There are also rumours of the group’s involvement in Belarus, Burkina Faso, Chad, Moldova etc. Recently, the group is actively participating in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict despite their declining morale over time.
The Wagner operatives are accused of committing war crimes like sexual assault, robbery, and torture of innocent civilians in areas of deployment.
The Private Group has also provided training and security services to South Sudan and Venezuela.
It is widely theorised that the Militant Group is used by the Russian Government as a part of Russian Intelligence to reduce accountability in the involvement of global conflicts as well as hide the numbers of casualties or financial costs to the Russian Public. This concept is widely supported as the group receives equipment from the Russian Defence Ministry as well as uses facilities of the military forces of Russia.Â
Conditions of the Mercenary Group
Prigozhin shared his comments on the future of the group with Russian War Blogger, Semyon Pegov. The video was shared on Pegov’s Telegram Channel.
In the video, he talked about the casualties suffered by his men throughout the past two weeks and how they struggled on the ground due to a lack of support from Russia. He also stated that the group is coming to a point of end and will become history in a short period of time.
Wagner Group did not share any statement after the video’s release, leaving room for speculation.Â
