In Ukraine war, a shadowy key player emerges: Russia’s mercenaries
- Moscow may become more dependent on mercenaries as Russian war loses in Ukraine mount
- Wagner Group’s boss has become increasingly virulent in his criticism of Russia’s war effort
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Ukraine military video shows Russian infantry crew ‘surrender’ in Kherson
As Russia suffers one devastating military setback after another in Ukraine, a key player in the conflict is stepping out of the shadows: the private army known as the Wagner Group.
Despite the Kremlin’s long-time practice of publicly distancing itself from the paramilitary organisation, Wagner mercenaries – who first emerged during Russia’s 2014 conquest of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula – have taken part in some of the most consequential battles of the seven-month-old war, according to Western military analysts.
Now, at a potentially fateful juncture in the fighting, experts say Russia is likely to become even more dependent on the private army, which has been implicated in human rights abuses in Ukraine as well as other conflict zones, including Syria, Libya, Mali and Central African Republic.
“The more dire the situation gets for the regular [Russian] army, the more it will be required to lean on private mercenaries like the Wagner Group,” said Christopher Faulkner, an assistant professor at the US Naval War College.
“Send all these bastards to the front, barefoot and with machine guns,” a Wagner-linked Telegram channel quoted him as saying in an apparent reference to the senior military leadership.