“Homeland, honor, blood, bravery. WAGNER,” reads one of the posters. Another, which locals said first appeared on the outskirts of the country’s fourth-largest city in early July, depicts three men in military uniform next to the words “Wagner2022.org.” The billboards, which can be seen in several Russian cities, are part of Wagner’s efforts to recruit fighters to join her ranks in Ukraine. They also serve as evidence of the transformation the group has undergone since Moscow launched its invasion five months ago, from a secretive mercenary organization shrouded in mystery to an increasingly public extension of Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine. “It seems that they have decided that they will no longer try to hide their existence. By now, everyone knows who they are,” said Denis Korotkov, a former Novaya Gazeta journalist and longtime Wagner watcher. Wagner was founded in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The US and others say it is funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman with close ties to Vladimir Putin, who is under Western sanctions. Prigozhin denies any connection to the group. Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin at a factory in St. Petersburg in 2010. Photo: Alexey Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images The group has since played a prominent role fighting alongside the Russian military in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and has been located in several African nations – places in which Russia has strategic and economic interests. He has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights violations. Despite its global reach, many of the group’s inner workings have remained a secret to the outside world. On paper, there is no company registration, tax returns or organizational chart. Russia’s top leadership, including Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly denied any connection between Wagner and the state. Private military companies are officially banned in Russia, and the semi-legal framework in which the mercenaries operate also meant that family members of deceased Wagner executives were often pressured into silence when seeking information about their loved ones. And while Wagner gradually launched a public relations campaign, with companies linked to Prigozhin funding propaganda films glorifying the actions of the “military trainers” in Africa, any mention of the group remained largely taboo in the public sphere. Journalists like Korotkov who investigated the group have been harassed for their work. Still from The Tourist, a propaganda film by the Wagner group. Photo: YouTube Russia’s war in Ukraine, however, brought the group out of obscurity. In late March, British intelligence claimed that around 1,000 Wagner mercenaries had gone to Ukraine. The group’s role in the war appears to have grown significantly since then as Moscow refocused its efforts in the east after failing to capture the capital, Kyiv. Wagner is believed to have played a central role in the capture of Popashna in May and Lysihansk in June, two strategically important cities that Russia largely leveled during its takeover of the eastern Luhansk region. On Wednesday, British intelligence said Wagner played a role in the seizure of the giant Vuhlehirsk power station in eastern Ukraine. As Wagner’s role in Ukraine grew, so did his public image at home. Russian and Rwandan security forces in Bangui, Central African Republic in December 2020. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images In May, Wagner received what appeared to be his first recognition in state news when a correspondent brought it up on a national broadcast, saying the military had “its own orchestra” in Ukraine. Wagner is often referred to by its supporters and members as “the orchestra”, a reference to the German composer Richard Wagner. The group’s alleged founder, Dmitry Utkin, has been linked to the far right and is believed to have named it after Hitler’s favorite composer. British intelligence also suggested that Prigozhin, who was pictured in eastern Ukraine in April, was recently named a Hero of the Russian Federation in recognition of the group’s role in the invasion. Last week, Wagner received his biggest recognition yet when Komsomolskaya Pravda, the country’s most widely read tabloid, ran a front-page story about the group’s attack on the Vuhlehirsk plant. Not so long ago, Russian officials (up to Putin) and state media pretended that Wagner had nothing to do with the Russian state, or even that he didn’t exist at all Today a report on the group storm at 🇺🇦’s second largest power station is on the front page of 🇷🇺’s leading tabloid pic.twitter.com/KTX6Ye0wMm — Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) July 29, 2022 Wagner publicly boasted about her participation in the war with a message on her website saying: “They have already liberated Popashna, join us to liberate the whole Donbass! Go on your first battle campaign with living legends of the industry!”. When the Guardian contacted the email address published on Wagner’s website, a person claiming to represent the group said it had launched the recruitment campaign because “we saw that the support for our company is colossal and there are many who want to join”. “But nothing changes, there is no Wagner and never has been, he is just a legend. There are only Robin Hoods protecting the poor who are oppressed by the rich,” the person added in an email exchange that was typical of Wagner’s public stance. The site has since been taken down by Hostinger, the Lithuania-based ISP that hosted it. A Hostinger spokesperson said it took action when it discovered the site was “hiding” with fake identities, VPNs and encrypted payments. Wagner also appears to have set up regional recruiting centers in more than 20 cities, posting recruits’ phone numbers on popular social media channels associated with the team. The ads say Wagner is offering soldiers more than 240,000 rubles (£3,370) a month, several times more than the standard salary of regular soldiers. The Guardian contacted several of the recruiters whose numbers were listed. Some used the mercenary group’s symbols as their WhatsApp and Telegram profile pictures, and none denied their association with Wagner. When asked about Wagner’s mobilization efforts, a recruiter from the Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia, who declined to be named, sent a list of documents needed to join, which included a passport from any country “not was NATO or Ukraine’ and several medical certificates. The recruiter also sent a list of items to bring, once accepted by Wagner, from a bubble bath to a tourniquet and other medical equipment. “See you in Molkino,” the message concluded, referring to the city in Russia’s Krasnodar region where Wagner is believed to be based near a major defense ministry base. Military analysts have argued that Russia’s reliance on groups like Wagner shows the extent to which the country’s regular army, which has lost up to a third of its combat strength, has struggled to achieve its goals in Ukraine. “Wagner’s private military contractors reportedly played a critical role in the fighting. Indeed, it is fair to question whether some Wagner detachments… are actually more elite and capable than regular Russian self-propelled guns,” wrote Michael Kofman and Rob Lee, two leading experts on the Russian military, in a recent update for the website War . with ice. The war in Ukraine and Russia’s military failures also appear to have accelerated Wagner’s cooperation with the Defense Department. Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner commander, told the Guardian in an earlier interview that his troops worked closely with the Russian Defense Ministry when fighting in Syria. This relationship seems to have deepened since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to an investigation by the independent agency Meduza, the Russian Ministry of Defense has largely taken control of the networks used by Wagner to recruit new soldiers. A mural in Belgrade praising the Wagner Group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images Korotkov, the Wagner expert, said it was difficult to distinguish between soldiers fighting for Wagner and those in the regular army. “The Ministry of Defense largely co-opted Wagner and now it looks more like a coordinated team,” Korotkov said, adding that such cooperation made it difficult to estimate the number of Wagner soldiers in Ukraine. And while Wagner’s role in the invasion has made the group mainstream, some say its latest recruitment threatens to lower its overall military standards. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST According to investigative news outlet iStories, Wagner has resorted to recruiting prisoners and offering high wages and possible amnesties for six months of service. “Wagner is lowering recruitment standards and hiring convicts and previously blacklisted individuals, potentially affecting Russian military effectiveness,” the UK Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence briefing last week. “Even before the conflict, less than 30% of the soldiers at Wagner were real professionals,” said Gabidullin, the former Wagner commander. “Now, the team will mostly consist of a bunch of amateurs… The circus that is Russia continues.”
