Will Wagner boss Prigoschin snatch Putin’s soldiers?

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Yevgeny Prigozhin (61) desperate. The head of the Wagner mercenary group is running out of military forces for use in Ukraine. This is the conclusion of the American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

To put an end to the personnel shortage, the Wagner Group would like to deploy the troops of the Russian army. To be precise: the newly mobilized men. According to the latest ISW analysis, there is growing evidence that Prigozhin’s organization is forcing mobilized soldiers to join the Wagner group.

Knackis on the loose

Like any war party, Wagner has to accept losses on the battlefield. In particular, the fighting in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut decimated the number of mercenaries.

Another problem for Prigozhin: expiring contracts with ex-prisoners. Last year, Wagner launched a massive recruiting offensive in Russian prisons. This peaked in the fall. The deal: Anyone who fights as a Wagner mercenary in Ukraine for six months will be pardoned and released.

According to the British secret service, Wagner keeps his promise. As a result, thousands of ex-prisoners have now completed their six-month military service and are now returning to Russia.

illegally kidnapped

Now Prigozhin would deploy the soldiers of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin (70). According to the journalist network Astra, which is critical of the Kremlin, 500 Russian soldiers were deported to Luhansk a few weeks ago. Actually, they should have been stationed in Rostov-on-Don. 170 of them were supposed to sign a contract with the Wagner Group, but most of them refused. Since then there has been no trace of these 113 men.

On Sunday, soldiers from the Moscow and Ivanovo regions released a video message saying they had been illegally taken to the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. “We are not on the Department of Defense payroll,” says one soldier. Relatives of these men in the video have identified them as part of the 500 group.

As further evidence of Prigozhin’s new practices, footage released last week shows the Wagner group holding mobilized soldiers in Kadiivka, Luhansk region, before escorting the men to an unspecified training area.

Anyone who is called up for military service in Russia can also do so at the Wagner Group. However, it is unclear whether Kremlin chief Putin authorized the mercenary organization to poach newly mobilized soldiers.

Source: Blick