“Putinism as It Is” was conceived in 2015 as an encyclopedia of the Putin regime. So that everyone can come in and read about Putin’s past and present, and think about the future: where this character from gangster Petersburg is leading the country (and has already led it).
And recently, many questions have arisen about Wagner’s private military company (PMC), a shady company that fights for hire in Putin’s local wars: from Ukraine to Sudan. What kind of structure is this? What is its place in Putin's mafia state? — This is an interesting question and it is worth dwelling on it in more detail.
The name “Wagner PMC” first became widely known in January 2015, when he was killed near Lugansk field commander LPR Bednov (“Batman”). He and 5 people with him were shot and burned with flamethrowers on the road. It was officially announced that the LPR authorities wanted to detain Bednov for some crimes (torture, looting, etc.), but he resisted and was killed.
In fact, it was a classic ambush; they wanted to kill him, not detain him. And before that, he had a conflict with his superiors in the LPR. A wave of indignation then arose in various blogs and resources supporting the DPR-LPR: Bednova (and he was a very popular person in these circles) killed the Wagner PMC, these are mercenaries, they don’t care who they kill, etc.
The wave quickly died down, the killings of field commanders and Cossack atamans continued, but few details about the Wagner PMC were still known. They appeared only in the fall of 2015, when first the St. Petersburg Fontanka, and then other media, began to write on this topic.
They told the astonished public that the Wagner PMC is a private army created by GRU special forces officer Utkin (call sign “Wagner”) with the money of Putin’s cook Prigozhin. That the cook and Utkin recruit mercenaries all over the country, pay a lot in cash, and send them to fight in the Donbass, Syria, Sudan, etc.
The cook himself never served in the army, because... He spent his entire youth in prison: he has 2 convictions and is a former St. Petersburg criminal. His business includes taverns, banquets in the Kremlin and government orders worth billions (not rubles). This is the second Rotenberg, only with a smaller caliber.
His companion Utkin-Wagner, on the contrary, was a military man all his life, a veteran of Chechnya, no stake, no yard. True, in recent years his well-being has noticeably improved: apartments in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, some luxurious houses with servants.
Fontanka also reported that it was no coincidence that he had the call sign “Wagner”: Lieutenant Colonel Utkin is a neo-Nazi, a fan of the Third Reich. And in the Reich, the composer Wagner (a supporter of the Aryan racial theory) was especially revered.
It all looked absolutely amazing. An alliance of repeat offenders with fascists in Putin’s kitchen? – How far, however, Russia has come in the process of “getting up from its knees.” But even more questions were raised by the PMC itself that they created.
PMCs in America are a serious business, legal, but in Russia it is Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. If you read this article, then recruitment, financing, and the participation of the mercenary himself in hostilities are all crimes with considerable time limits. It lasts for 8 years, and with the use of official position – up to 15.
Those. strictly speaking, Wagner PMC is not a PMC. This is an illegal armed group. Putin's cook created a gang of international scale? Myself?
The figure of the second “founder of the business,” Wagner-Utkin, also caused bewilderment. Who brought together a sick lieutenant colonel, walking around Lugansk in a fascist helmet, and a cook from Putin’s servants, the owner of glamorous taverns and a billionaire? Is this their business at all?
In general, this whole story about the Utkin-Prigozhin PMC left more questions than answers. And the main questions here were just about the cook. So let's start with it.
2.Surprise from the chef.
The very nickname “Putin’s cook” stuck to Prigozhin, because... he regularly served as banquet master for Putin and his guests. Salad, appetizers, hot dishes, tableware, everything is as it should be. This is his job. Service? – Yes, but closeness to the body, which (with the right approach) promises considerable benefits.
This is what life is like at court: “I became part of Putin’s company,” “something like a royal jester at receptions,” and built a relationship with Zolotov. Pate served with prunes, beef fillet with black truffles and morels with young carrots, caviar on ice again and port wine caramel. And also - government orders worth billions and its own PMC, where, as they say, there are more than 3,000 bayonets.
But the most amazing thing about the cook was told by the Washington Post on February 22, 2018, with reference to US intelligence: judging by the wiretapping of the cook’s calls to Syria, he not only finances the Wagner PMC, but also participates in planning military operations (!). Those. he is a commander. In between caviar on ice and port.
For example, according to American wiretapping data, on January 30, 2018, the cook called Mansour Azzam (Minister of Affairs presidential palace in Syria) and said that he had agreed on a certain action in Moscow between February 6 and 9, 2018, which would be a “pleasant surprise” for President Assad. The Syrian minister responded by assuring that they would not remain in debt and would pay if necessary.
The cook, in his call to Syria on January 30, 2018, did not specify what kind of surprise he was preparing. As it turned out later, it was about the seizure by the Wagner PMC of one of the oil fields on the Euphrates River (the PMC has 25% of the income from all captured oil wells).
True, the attack failed. They were expected, and on the night of February 7-8, 2018, the attackers were destroyed by the Americans. And since they walked in a column through the desert, everything was in full view, it turned out to be a real massacre, execution as if in a shooting gallery. Here's a "surprise" from the chef.
A separate question arose about the losses suffered by the Wagner PMC on the Euphrates. Russian official sources initially denied everything altogether, then the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman announced 5 dead. Meanwhile, people whose friends and comrades are actually fighting in Wagner PMCs (Girkin, Polynkov, ataman Shabaev, Alksnis and others), reported the death of more than 300 people.
The France24 television channel, citing representatives of the Ural Cossacks (of which there are many in the Wagner PMC), reported more than 200 killed. Of these, about 150 people were taken from the battlefield in a state of “minced meat,” according to France24’s interlocutors.
However, an alternative version of events was also voiced in the Western media. About three weeks after the battle on the Euphrates, Der Spiegel journalist Christoph Reiter reported from Syria that “two sources in the al-Baqir militia” (Syrians fighting for Assad) told him that there were supposedly no Russians in the assault group at all. They were standing somewhere nearby and accidentally came under fire (and lost 20 people).
Apparently, it is worth confronting “two sources from the Al-Baqir militia” with friends and relatives of those who died or were wounded on the Euphrates. Otherwise, it’s really interesting who is fighting in Syria on the front line for Assad and who then is being buried in Russia?
City of Asbest, Sverdlovsk region. The cry of the soul of Elena Matveeva, the widow of the mercenary Stanislav Matveev (call sign “Matvey”), who died on the Euphrates.
Why did Stas Matveev die? - For the oil fields. For beef fillet with truffles, served with morels and young carrots. And as you wanted.
The house in which the deceased lived in Asbest. From here he went to Syria to fight for the morels.
Coffins at Wagner PMC - 5 million rubles (if killed on the front line). There is a chance to get out of poverty and slums. In addition to money, they also give a medal posthumously. Wagner PMC has its own private awards. Something between the Order of Courage of the Russian Federation and the Iron Cross.
Of course, 5 million and a medal cannot replace a father and husband. And there, in her interview, the widow of Stas Matveev, in her hearts, demands that the government take revenge for her husband. But this is unlikely, dear Elena. Why will they take revenge on themselves?
3.The way of the cook.
So, Russian military operations in the Middle East are planned by a chef-commander. But how did he get to the Kremlin in the first place? – And straight from gangster Petersburg, friends.
Prigozhin – born in 1961. Graduated from a sports boarding school (skied). He did not serve in the army, because at the age of 18 (in 1979) he was sentenced to 2.5 years probation for theft. After the suspended sentence in 1981, he was imprisoned for 12 years: gang robbery, fraud and Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR in abundance.
The cook did not serve his full sentence. He was released early in 1990. Now Prigozhin says that he started from scratch: stalls with hot dogs, “they mixed mustard in my apartment,” etc. However, in big business he didn't get caught on hot dogs. Childhood friend Boris Spektor was a member of the organized crime group of Misha Kutaissky (Mikhail Mirilashvili). The bandits controlled the Conti gambling empire - the largest casino chain in the city, Spector had a share there.
In the 1990s, the Mirilashvili organized crime group was the second gang in the city after the famous Tambov-Malyshev lads (and other comrades of Putin). Mikhail (Miho) Kutaissky actively expanded his business, buying shops and real estate in the center. He had his own TV channel in St. Petersburg (“Russian Video”), rented sea berths in the military ports of Lomonosov and Kronstadt (channels for smuggling tobacco and alcohol in those years).
And so it happened that Prigozhin’s friend from the sports boarding school, Boris Spektor, turned out to be a close associate of Miho. And he invited Prigozhin to work. The cook began to be responsible for grocery stores in the group - as a manager and junior partner. This is how he got into serious business, where he earned initial capital.
Authority Misha Kutaissky. One of the richest people in St. Petersburg (net worth over $3 billion). A prominent figure in the Georgian Jewish community. It was in his organized crime group that the criminal Prigozhin, who was released in 1990, received a start in life.
Prigozhin walked under Misha Kutaissky until about 2001. By that time, trade had ceased to be his main occupation. Since 1996, he began opening restaurants in St. Petersburg, mostly expensive and glamorous ones. The Kutaisi gang was his share, but later their paths diverged.
The divorce was not easy. In an interview with Forbes magazine on March 18, 2013, Prigozhin said that “Misha Mirilashvili did harm wherever he could.” He demanded that the restaurants be given to him, because... believed that Prigozhin rose at his expense. He even scared Putin: “We have everything in chocolate - our man became president”.
The connections between Mirilashivili and Putin really go back far, even back to the days when Putin and Kudrin issued licenses for casinos at the mayor’s office. They were received entirely by bandits, for kickbacks, including the Conti gambling empire. However, at the time of Prigozhin and Miho’s divorce (early 2000s), the chef’s connections with Putin turned out to be much stronger than those of Misha Kutaissky.
Prigozhin later explained that Putin simply loved going to his restaurants. He appreciated the kitchen, respected it, and invited me to work at his banquets. I respected him even more. So two respected people came together. In part, this is true. They are similar - both are athletes, both were brought up in a backstreet, criminal environment. It brings us closer together. However, there was another important factor. Here is this colorful character who helped them establish business and personal connections:
This is authority Roma Tsepov, legend of gangster Petersburg. An officer of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who left service in 1990 and put together a brigade in St. Petersburg that worked under the guise of the Baltic Escort private security company. They were involved in everything from security to racketeering and robbery. Tsepov’s unofficial companion in the private security company was a man named Viktor Zolotov - at that time Sobchak’s bodyguard, and now the head of the Russian Guard.
Tsepov very quickly made connections in the highest echelons of the city and was a famous fixer. He developed a particularly warm relationship in the mayor's office with a man named Vladimir Putin. Together, Tsepov, Putin and Zolotov made up a criminal trio that fully fell under Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in modern version. In short, a gang.
By the way, it was Tsepov who collected money from the casino, working as Putin’s confidant (cashier). After Putin came to power, Roma was known as simply omnipotent. He resolved any issues, removed and appointed generals, killed some, saved others, resolved conflicts between oligarchs.
In 2004 he was killed. Roma ruined his relationship with his friend Vova, got involved in the Yukos business (he wanted to save this company for 30% of the shares for himself personally). And in general he began to forget himself, flaunting his connections with the top person, both appropriately and inappropriately. As a result, I drank tea with polonium (yes, 2 years before the Litvinenko case). You can read a more detailed biography of Roma Tsepov in this article:.
Roma was killed, but the people, the cadres that he put forward, are still alive. One of them, whom Roma left as a souvenir for us, is Putin’s chef Prigozhin. He would not have been able to become so close to Putin and Zolotov if Tsepov had not helped. As they say, a man died, but his work lives on.
4. Powers of special machinations.
In general, as you understand, Putin’s chef is a man with a rich biography. And in 2000-2001. she made another zigzag: Prigogine left under the roof of Misha Kutaissky and moved to Tsepov-Zolotov. And soon he completely fell into Putin’s inner circle.
After this, our hero’s affairs went uphill sharply. From a mediocre restaurateur, he turned into a supplier of ready-made meals for schools and military units worth huge sums. But at some point even this seemed not enough. And somewhere in 2012, Prigozhin began to be attracted to non-core (non-kitchen) business.
At first it was a project to clog the Internet with Zaputin propaganda. With Prigozhin’s money (i.e. from the budget), the famous troll factory in Olgino appeared in St. Petersburg, which then moved to Savushkina, 55, then to the Lakhta-2 business center, etc.
St. Petersburg, business center "Lakhta-2" on Optikov street, 4. Most of Zaputin’s comments on social networks are written here.
In addition to this factory for writing comments, in 2014, the “Federal News Agency” (FAN) also appeared - a group of sites distributing Zaputin and GB nonsense on the Internet under the guise of news. From the series: “The USA is in panic from our new fighter. The Russophobes of the State Department strangled themselves with shoelaces.” They, however, overdid it, and in 2017 Google kicked out all FAN sites from Google News, along with the archive for all the years. But Yandex News continues to produce this Prigozhinsky garbage in batches.
And finally, since 2014, Prigozhin began to participate not only in informational, but also in real wars of the Putin regime - in the east of Ukraine, the Wagner PMC received a baptism of fire. And in the fall of 2015, she was transferred to Syria.
Moscow, 2016. Commanders of the Wagner PMC in the Kremlin. Judging by the Russian press, in Lugansk Utkin liked to go out in public wearing a Wehrmacht helmet. In the image that is. It's strange that he didn't wear it to the Kremlin. After all, a meeting with the Fuhrer.
The one to the left of Putin is Andrei Troshev (“Sedoy”), Utkin’s deputy at the PMC. Former paratrooper, then served in SOBR. According to Russian media reports, in June 2017 he was found on the street in St. Petersburg in a state of “heavy alcoholic intoxication” and taken to the hospital. He had with him 5 million rubles, some maps of Syria, papers on the Wagner PMC. Almost drank a military secret, in short.
Another participant in the reception in the Kremlin is Ratibor, aka Alexander Kuznetsov. This is a major from the Senezh center in Solnechnogorsk (“sunflowers”, special operations forces of the Moscow Region). In 2008, Major Ratibor went to jail for robbery and kidnapping. In 2013, he miraculously left prison and became a mercenary.
It is noteworthy that in the same place in Solnechnogorsk, where “sunflowers” grow, the private security company “Stealth”, about which Litvinenko once wrote, is now based. The private security company was created in the 1990s. jointly by the FSB and the Izmailovo organized crime group to commit contract killings - for hire and on the orders of the Motherland. Special forces soldiers were involved in the private security company. The office was a living symbol of the merger of the FSB and the mafia - it was no longer possible to determine where one ended and the other began.
The Stealth private security company was founded by FSB Colonel Lutsenko (he still works there), and his supervisor in the 1990s was General Khokholkov (“Yeltsin’s Sudoplatov”). The general also protected the heroin trade, and the private security company was his help in the showdown. In short, special operations forces (brothers with security officers).
Returning to the Wagner PMC, it is worth noting that it also arose on the basis of an undercover office of the special services: the backbone of the Wagner PMC was formed back in 2013 as part of a security company "Moran Security Group", which is headed by Putin’s KGB colleague Vyacheslav Kalashnikov.
Moran is a company that, since 2010, has been recruiting mercenaries to protect ships abroad (including those transporting contraband). It was to Kalashnikov at “Moran” that Utkin first went, having left the army in 2013. Major Kuznetsov (Ratibor) also began his career as a mercenary there, after leaving prison, and many others.
Lieutenant Colonel FSB Vyacheslav Kalashnikov from St. Petersburg. The person who selected key personnel for Wagner PMC:
In 2013, through the Kalashnikov company, the first (unsuccessful) attempt was made to send mercenaries to Syria for operations on land. They assembled a small unit (267 people), with the loud name “Slavic Corps,” and sent them to fight for Assad. However, the mercenaries could not fight without air and artillery support; they fled in the first battle and were sent back to Russia.
In this detachment there was Utkin and the future command staff of Wagner PMC. The first pancake came out badly, but in 2014 they were remembered again, creating a new, larger gang, which went to war on a large scale - in Ukraine, again in Syria, etc. And they hired a lackey cook to pay for it all (from the budget in the end, so it’s not a pity).
As for the security officer Kalashnikov, who gave Wagner and the company a start in life, there are many questions. Officially, he served in the GB from 1981 to 1994 in the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) department. Counterintelligence agent with knowledge of German. In 1994 he quit and worked in private security structures. Since 2009 – President of Moran Security Group.
He retired in 1994 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, in 2013, there were interviews in the Russian media with mercenaries whom he recruited for work. In personal communications, Kalashnikov introduced himself as an FSB general. It turns out that he never left the organs.
In addition, Mr. Kalashnikov is a man with extensive mafia connections. Some of them are quite unexpected.
5.Putin's emissary
There is an interesting detail in the biography of security officer Kalashnikov: in 2001-2003, he was an assistant to Senator Alexander Torshin in the Federation Council. Torshin is one of the highest officials of the Russian Federation, in 2002-15 - vice-speaker of the Federation Council, and now - deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
One of the people who knew him well, banker and oppositionist Sergei Aleksashenko, argued to Bloomberg in 2016 that Torshin has “long ties with the FSB” and is their creature. Those. This is another product of the vital activity of the office at the address: Moscow, st. Bol. Lubyanka, 1. Although in the case of Torshin, subcontractors also had a hand. An organization sitting in the forest at the 38th kilometer of the Moscow Ring Road (for which they are called foresters, as well as welders - from S.V.R.):
Throughout the 1990s, Torshin hung around Gorbachev, then Yeltsin in various positions. Under Putin, he was promoted, but became the hero of two international scandals. One is purely mafia (in Spain), the other is spy (in America).
In 2013-14 In Spain, 10 members of the Taganskaya organized crime group were arrested on charges of money laundering. Among others, the leader of the Taganskaya lads, Alexander Romanov (“Roman”), was arrested. Before this, for several years the telephones of all those involved in the case were wiretapped by the Spaniards.
The Spanish police were quite surprised that Roman, it turns out, was not the main one in the Tagansk organized crime group. There is a cooler person who gives him instructions on where and what millions of dollars to send. Roman respects this man and calls him nothing less than “godfather.” Well, as you guessed, the godfather of the Tagansk organized crime group turned out to be Mr. Torshin.
In particular, there is an episode in the case where Torshin gives instructions to Roman on how to invest and launder his (Torshin’s) personal $15 million. At that time, Torshin was deputy chairman of the Federation Council, a member of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee and much more. One of the top officials of the state. In 2015, Putin appointed him deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia.
Bloomberg (August 2015): “Mafia or Central Bank Banker? The Spanish police say that this Russian is both.”
As for Torshin's spy affairs, the situation is even more ridiculous. The fact is that Torshin for a long time had a very unusual hobby for a Kremlin official - he was a member of the US National Rifle Association (NSA).
This is a conservative organization that advocates for traditional American values, which include the right of citizens to bear arms. Moreover, their ideology is such that this is necessary not only for self-defense, but also to prevent tyranny in the country: if some local Putin suddenly turns up there, wanting to steal from power for 20-30 years, so that he does not go out into the street empty-handed.
It’s paradoxical, but in this organization, which has nothing to do with the “traditional values” of Putin’s Russia, the Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council, Mr. Torshin, hung out for many years. For what? – This became clear only in 2016, when Trump was elected in the United States, and the rifle association supported him in every possible way.
At the height of the election campaign, Torshin, through one of his acquaintances in the NRA, Paul Erickson, contacted the Trump campaign with a proposal to establish a direct communication channel with Putin. Erickson conveyed the proposal to Rick Dearbon (Trump assistant), where he described Torshin as “Putin’s emissary.”
Referring to Torshin, he said that Putin would like to meet with Trump before the election, and that Putin is “deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.”
Torshin’s mission, however, failed: the Trump campaign showed no interest in the proposal. But all the correspondence between the parties was successfully intercepted by the FBI, and its participants had problems: they had to explain that they were not the initiators of the negotiations, and it was Putin’s emissary who was trying to communicate.
Nevertheless, the fact is quite indicative: such a character, “Putin’s emissary” abroad (and the Tagansk organized crime group at the same time), once worked for the security officer Kalashnikov, the future founder of the Moran Security Group and Godfather PMC Wagner.
Of course, I foresee the question: okay, Wagner PMC is a product of the special services and Putin. What about Blackwater in America? – A PMC under the CIA and the Pentagon, which was involved in all sorts of shady matters? And in which there was no less odious and scandalous famous founder- Former Navy SEAL Erik Prince. Wagner PMC - Russian Blackwater. Is not it?
Well, let's take a quick look at the history of Blackwater, since they are so often compared to Wagner. And you will understand the difference.
6. "Blackwater".
In 1992, a young guy from Michigan, Erik Prince, decided to join the army. He passed the test and ended up in the Navy special forces, which they call SEALs. Translated from English, “seals” are Navy SEALs, although the abbreviation SEAL itself stands for differently: SEa, Air, and Land teams (sea, air and ground teams).
Service in SEAL teams is difficult, all over the world, the best of the best are then selected for SAD - the Special Operations Department of the CIA. SAD is already US foreign intelligence special forces. Similar to the “Vympel” type in the former Soviet KGB.
This is the difficult path that the boy from Michigan, Erik Prince, chose for himself:
Interestingly, this guy from Michigan is the son of a billionaire. His dad Edgar Prince is a talented engineer; in 1965 he founded a company producing automobile parts. He started with one workshop, for 30 years he produced metal castings and sun visors for car interiors and was very successful in this. In the end, he had a network of factories, orders from the largest automakers in America. Well, my son joined the SEALs.
By the way...Show me the son of at least one billionaire in Russia who has at least served emergency duty? What about the billionaire engineer who founded his own factories without privatizing anything? What about in mechanical engineering? “Stupid Americans” are rotting and will soon fall apart, yeah.
Edgar Prince died in 1995. The family (wife and 4 children) sold his company for $1.35 billion and divided the inheritance. Son Erik Prince left the army after serving in the SEALs for three years and decided to start his own business. But also connected with the army and special forces. Thus, in 1997, a private military company"Blackwater".
With his own money, Prince bought 1,600 hectares of land in an empty swampy area in North Carolina (300 km from Washington), where he equipped the largest private shooting range and military training ground in the United States. CIA veterans with combat experience came to work for the company. This is how the private army “Blackwater” began to form.
Its finest hour came in 2001, after the September 11 terrorist attacks. When the smoke cleared from the collapsed twin towers, it was quickly established that almost 3,000 people were killed by suicide bombers from the al-Qaeda organization. Their headquarters were then in Afghanistan, under the wing of the Taliban regime - Islamic fanatics who seized power in this country in 1996.
Under the attacks of the US Air Force, the Taliban regime quickly collapsed, and a long-term hunt for al-Qaeda began in the mountains. And in 2003, the war in Iraq was added to the war in Afghanistan. Two wars immediately created a huge demand for private security services. Blackwater has received contracts worth more than $2 billion from the US government to protect various facilities and citizens. In a short period of time, Erik Prince earned more in the war than his dad earned in his entire life from spare parts.
Blackwater in Iraq:
Moreover, an important detail: under contracts with the US Department of Defense, mercenaries were hired for auxiliary and logistical tasks, NOT on the front line (this is prohibited). If it becomes known in America that the Pentagon uses mercenaries at the front as assault infantry... And even puts them in hundreds and hides losses. Moreover, the president’s cook pays for everything. And the cook himself is a mafioso and his PMC is illegal... In short, even before the situation reaches such a cesspool, there will be a scandal and the whole gang will be dispersed. And this is normal (in normal countries).
And yet, friends, although Prince’s PMC operated officially and did not attack from the trenches, a scandal still arose with it in America. And a considerable one: Prince had to sell the company and leave the United States.
7. “We did work for the CIA, but we were betrayed...”
In 2007, clouds gathered over Erik Prince's PMC. His men shot 14 people in a square in Baghdad in broad daylight, and wounded 17 more. The opening of fire was considered unmotivated. Four mercenaries were brought to trial in the United States. The one third from the left in the photo (Nicholas Slatten) received a life sentence, the others - 30 years.
The incident caused a great resonance (including a diplomatic one). Numerous journalistic investigations began into the activities of the Blackwater PMC and Prince personally. A lot of dirty laundry has come out. One of the curious facts that the American media discovered then was that Prince had secret contracts with the CIA for the physical elimination of al-Qaeda members outside the United States. Those. Blackwater PMC was engaged in more than just security. They could have killed someone to order.
The orders were given by the government. After the September 11 attacks, President Bush directed the CIA to find and eliminate al-Qaeda members wherever they were found. Cofer Black, head of the CIA's anti-terrorism center, was put in charge of this case. He once became famous for catching Carlos “The Jackal,” the main international terrorist of the 1970s and 80s. Now there was another task - not to catch, but to bring down.
Cofer Black, chief wet case officer at the CIA in the first half of the 2000s.
Extrajudicial killings on foreign soil are risky business. If the operation is carried out incompetently or recklessly, the costs can be high (see Polonium-210). Therefore, Cofer Black decided to secretly hire a “subcontractor” - PMC Blackwater.
And in 2005, Cofer Black left the service altogether and went to work... there at Blackwater. At some point, it became difficult to determine where the CIA ended and the PMC began. They formed a symbiosis.
How did this symbiosis work? In 2009, journalists from the weekly Atlantic managed to find two former Blackwater mercenaries who agreed to tell what Erik Prince’s PMC was doing in Afghanistan, but without publishing their names in the press. These were two ex-special forces soldiers, Mexican Americans with dark skin. They were chosen specifically - if they change their clothes, they can outwardly pass for Afghans.
As the Atlantic journalist writes, the guys from the American special forces were calm about the job of carrying out murders, but asked their employer (Blackwater) how legal it was. They assured me that everything was OK.
They were brought to Kabul, dressed up as locals and given the task: to go to the bazaar and kill the driver of a pickup truck, whom a CIA officer would indicate to them. They had no idea who the driver was. He had to be killed and quickly left according to the escape plan. The work was done successfully, after which the performers were given a new order.
Actually, here lies the main reason for the Blackwater scandal - what scared the American public. The symbiosis of the CIA with an undercover office, which consists of armed thugs and is engaged in carrying out assassinations (even of terrorists) is a promising start. In the absence of proper control, everything easily turns into an organized crime group. Tomorrow they will kill for hire, sell drugs and provide a criminal roof. Those. it will turn out to be the FSB. Until things reached such a cesspool, the public sounded the alarm.
In 2009-10 The Blackwater scandal reached its climax. Two more former PMC employees were found who sued Prince with quite criminal charges. The founder of Blackwater was accused of selling weapons in Iraq. That part of the money from the CIA was transferred to an unknown location (possibly stolen). That some witnesses familiar with the inner workings of Blackwater strangely did not die a natural death. That Prince is generally a psychopath, an ultra-right “Christian fundamentalist” who fancies himself a crusader of our days.
English magazine “The Economist”, issue dated August 6, 2009. Testimony of former employees of the Blackwater PMC: Erik Prince is the “last crusader,” a racist who, while in Iraq, in a narrow circle referred to Iraqis and Arabs exclusively as “ragheads or hajiis” - racist nicknames from American slang, similar to the Russian “churki”, “churkobesy”.
In general, the pressure was serious. The Blackwater issue was heard by the Congressional Intelligence Committee. The contract killing program was closed. In 2010, under threat of losing his contracts, Prince had to sell the company and leave the United States. The former Blackwater now has new owners and a new name - Academi. Erik Prince lives abroad, he has a new PMC in Abu Dhabi together with the local emir. Called "R2".
The criminal charges against Prince that were heard in America remained unproven. Now he calmly comes to the United States, he is a big fan of Trump, his sister works in his government.
The R2 PMC, which Prince commands in the Emirates, fights wherever the emir has interests - from Yemen to Libya. There are no UAE citizens there, only foreigners. Sometimes they are used as infantry in the thick of it and with heavy losses. Those. Quite Putin-like. Only the emir's mercenaries are from other countries.
While working for the Arabs, Prince did not lose his crusader spirit (at heart). He periodically speaks on the far-right American website Breitbert News. For example, in June 2016 he stated there that: “Those who threaten American Christian values should be denied entry into the United States.”
And in July 2016, Prince ran over the French (this was immediately after the terrorist attack in Nice, where an Arab terrorist ran over 84 people in a truck):
“This is a war against Islamic fascism. They are fighting against us. But we are clearly not fighting against them. My question to the French: where is your Charles Martel [the king who defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Poitiers in the 8th century. AD]? Where is the man who will stop the invasion of radical Islam? What kind of leadership is at the head of France anyway?”
Having spoken once again in America about “Islamic fascism,” Prince goes to his villa in Abu Dhabi to continue his business. In the UAE, where for leaving Islam - the death penalty, for any criticism of the authorities - people simply disappear without a trace, everything suits him.
Past former owner Blackwater doesn't like to remember. “We did work for the CIA, but we were betrayed by loudmouth politicians?” , — stated he was on the air of “Russia Today” in 2014.
However, according to conservative estimates, he received $250 million from the CIA for the contract killing program alone. This money is from taxpayers, and why don’t loud-mouthed politicians ask what and how? Don't dig through your dirty laundry. Otherwise, why were they chosen in the first place?
Compare with Putin’s Russia, where the Duma is not even bawlers, but clowns who don’t care about anything: illegal PMCs, hundreds of killed mercenaries, sources of money to pay for them. With Putin’s Russia, where the special services are not controlled by anyone at all and have long turned into organized crime groups in uniform. Against this background, the scandals with the CIA and Blackwater in the United States are simply manifestations of civil society, control of parliament and independent media over the activities of the intelligence services. In Russia there is neither one nor the other.
Another small example. When Trump was elected in America, Putin’s emissaries also contacted Erik Prince through the Emir of Abu Dhabi with a proposal to establish an informal communication channel (Prince’s sister works for Trump, as already mentioned).
One of Putin's close associates came out - banker Kirill Dmitriev from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). This is an office under the control of the SVR, created in 2011 for money laundering under the guise of foreign investments (including Putin’s own money).
The meeting between Prince and Dmitriev was in the Seychelles in January 2017. Dmitriev arrived on a private jet (in this case, you can enter the Seychelles without a stamp in your passport). The meeting was secret, although the FBI found out about it anyway (Prince isn't the only one checking his email).
It ended with Prince being summoned to the US Congress Intelligence Committee to give explanations. There he claimed that he simply “drank beer” with Dmitriev in the Seychelles, discussed trade, terrorism, but nothing more. Those. The communication channel did not work here either.
However, it is significant that only the American parliament was interested in the topic. In Russia it was not even raised. Although it would seem: Putin’s close associate is going specifically to the Seychelles to meet with a noble CIA officer. What kind of meetings are these? What kind of billions of dollars does Dmitriev have in his fund, whose are they and where are they being spent? — In a normal country (not an African-type dictatorship), the parliament would immediately become interested. But Putin's Russia has no parliament. But in the circus such issues are not discussed.
8. Epilogue.
The average salary in Russia in 2017, according to official data, was 39,144 rubles. Less taxes - 34,055 rubles. Roughly – 34 thousand in hand. Or 516 euros (average rate in 2017 – 65.9). This is after 18 years of Putin's rule.
Let's move on. There is such a country - Romania. One of the poorest in Europe. The average salary in Romania for 2017 minus taxes is 2383 Romanian lei. The average leu to ruble exchange rate in 2017 was 14.9. Thus, the average net salary in Romania is 35,506 rubles.
Again: a Russian in Putin’s Russia earns an average of 34 thousand per hand, a Romanian in completely poor (by EU standards) Romania - 35.5 thousand. What remains? - That's right, shoot nuclear torpedoes at the United States. Hire more mercenaries in Syria, infiltrate Sudan, deepen friendship with drug cartels South America and dictators in Asia.
And continue to believe that Russia is not a Third World country at all, and Putin is not the crazy king of a raw materials colony, who has gone crazy from stolen money.
Donbass is ruled by professional Russian military mercenaries, and all sorts of carpentry and bakery workers are just a screen for the Kremlin special services
-“I have been collecting various information on the activities of the Wagner gang of Russian mercenaries for a long time,” writes in his article editor-in-chief of the website "Censor.NET" Yuri Butusov. — This is the most combat-ready military formation of the occupation forces of the Russian Federation, organized in the form of an official private military company, where Russian military personnel are recruited. That is, a legalized terrorist group for doing dirty deeds.
"Wagner" receives the most modern weapons. For example, the “Vystrel” armored vehicles, which are in service only with the Russian army, were transferred to only this detachment in the Donbass. The Russian Federation rewards living and killed Wagner militants state awards RF, they receive all the benefits as military personnel.
PMC in the role of Cheka. In the LPR, Wagner is the main instrument of power of the Russian command in Donbass. A private military company - PMC - performs the functions of the Bolshevik Cheka, destroying all “Mensheviks”. And keeps at bay everyone who does not want to share or encroaches on Plotnitsky’s resources. The publication Sputnik and Pogrom, an influential publication among Russian mercenaries, sponsored by the Russian intelligence services, named Wagner “field commander of the year.”
According to this Russian publication, it was Wagner PMC that eliminated well-known terrorist leaders in 2015: Alexei Mozgovoy, Pavel Dremov, Alexander Dremov, Evgeniy Ishchenko and many others. Dozens of other militants are named among Wagner’s victims. All mercenaries who resisted were destroyed. The punitive operation to “clean up” the “militias” of Anthracite became especially famous. There, Wagner shot more than ten militants, in particular, the leaders of the Anthracite “militia” - Vyacheslav Pinezhanin and Mikhail Koval - were killed.
Quote from the publication “Sputnik and Pogrom”:
“The Wagnerites began to operate in Crimea. Their groups worked together with army units - they disarmed the Ukrainian army and took control of objects on the territory of the peninsula. The PMC was ideally suited for the new hybrid war - well-trained fighters who were in no way formally connected with the Russian Armed Forces. After an almost bloodless Crimea, the Wagnerites quickly found work in the Donbass. Mercenaries organized rebel groups and strengthened them. Several dozen professional mercenaries could not turn the tide of the conflict, but became the core for many initially inexperienced militias. Thanks to this support, the separatists were able to quickly destabilize the Ukrainian security forces in the territory of two regions, paralyze the work of local authorities, seize arsenals and gain complete control over the street...
After the end of the hot phase of the conflict, the Wagnerites became famous for darker deeds. It is the people of “Wagner” who are called the perpetrators of the wave of political murders in the “Lugansk Republic” - the executions of Ishchenko, Mozgovoy, Bednov and Dremov. It is believed that the PMC operates mainly in the “LPR”, in favor of the owner of the “republic” Plotnitsky and those who stand behind him, but, of course, does not obey him. “Wagner” makes a puppet entity out of the “Lugansk Republic”; charismatic and popular commanders prevented this."
And so the Russian website Fontanka prepared a very informative material about Wagner and even found a blurry photograph of it. According to the Russian publication, this is: “Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin, 46 years old. A professional military man, until 2013 he was the commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate brigade of the special forces unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, stationed in Pechory, Pskov region. After leaving the reserve, he worked for Moran Security Group, a private company specializing in the protection of ships in pirate-prone areas. When MSG managers organized the “Slavic Corps” in 2013 and sent it to Syria to defend Bashar al-Assad, he participated in this failed expedition. Since 2014, he has been the commander of his own unit, which, based on his call sign, received the code name “Wagner PMC.”
*The only photo of “Wagner” that Russian journalists managed to find
Known for his commitment to the aesthetics and ideology of the Third Reich, hence the call sign in honor of the mystical composer. In Lugansk, the personnel shocked, replacing their usual field Panama hat with a steel Wehrmacht helmet, but the commander’s quirks are not discussed.
Allegedly killed in January 2016 near Donetsk Ozeryanovka, but in fact he is alive and well. Now he is either in Syria or in a training camp in Molkino"(village in Krasnodar region Russian Federation, where the 10th separate GRU special forces brigade is stationed and sabotage groups are being trained. — "DATA").
Formed on the basis of the “Slavic Corps”, battered in Syria in 2013, a conditional PMC under the command of a man with the call sign “Wagner”, according to Fontanka, has been operating in the Crimea since the spring of 2014, and then in the territory of the Lugansk region.
Since the fall of 2015, the main forces have been transferred to Syria.
Fontanka discovered the graves of two Wagner mercenaries killed in the Donbass - Andrei Steiner and Andrei Elmeev. They were liquidated on January 28, 2015. And the mercenary Sergei Chupov went to war in Syria after Donbass and was killed in February 2016. The Russian Federation awarded all these militants with orders.
The fact that the Fontanka article is reliable, and that it is “Wagner” that carries out the murders of militant leaders, is confirmed by a high-ranking enemy source. In February 2016 (that is, even before the publication of the article on Fontanka), the famous Russian mercenary Stanislav Shustrov, call sign “Engineer,” former chief of artillery of the Prizrak mercenary brigade, wrote about Wagner on his Facebook page. Shustrov said that the contract killing of Bednov(the militant “Batman” was killed on January 1, 2015 near the village of Lutugino, Luhansk region. — "DATA") It was Wagner who did:
“The name of Wagner is Dmitry. He's such a big guy, bald, of course. The muzzle is relatively brutal. We participated in several operations together. “Wagner” himself received a shrapnel in the liver in the summer of 2014, many of his guys died. After recovery, Wagner returned to service. The division has grown slightly. Most of the sabotage work in the winter of 2014-2015 in the “LPR” was the work of his people. I do not have absolutely certain information regarding his (Bednov’s) destruction. Most likely, Wagner’s subordinates actually participated in the situation. Not himself, of course. As the only capable (in this matter) unit at that time, they were attracted by the order... Well... what do you want from the specialists who were imprisoned for assault? They shoot at the top..."
Shustrov knows what he is saying. He himself is a military mercenary, a Russian serviceman, and occupied a high position in the command of the “LPR” militants, receiving the rank of “Lieutenant Colonel of the LPR.” It’s funny that in his status he wrote that all this information can be published. But for some reason no one published it, and the “Engineer” status itself was then deleted. But, of course, I managed to save the screenshot for myself, so I fulfill the author’s request and publish it.
Information on Wagner shows clearly and unequivocally that the war in Donbass was started by groups of “little green men” - professional Russian military mercenaries. And it is these mercenaries who rule the Donbass, and all sorts of carpenters and baked goods are just a screen for the Russian special services. Wagner’s killers will eliminate anyone who interferes with the Kremlin’s puppet masters of the “people’s republics.” It's nothing personal, it's just business."
The story of secret Russian mercenaries.
Oleg served in Syria in a military unit that did not officially exist on paper, but which was known as the “Wagner Group” or “musicians”, fought on the side of the Syrian pro-government forces and was formed from experienced fighters by order of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Oleg took part in the battles for the liberation of Palmyra. His salary was 4,500 euros per month plus bonuses.
Russia launched a military operation in civil war-torn Syria just more than a year back - September 30, 2015. A lot has changed since then. If at that time the House of Assad was on the brink of death, then after Russian intervention the loyalists managed to recapture Palmyra from the Islamic State and win a crushing victory in Aleppo.
All these successes of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), which was pretty battered in the heat of war, would have been unthinkable without the support of Russia. It carries out air and missile strikes against government opponents, supplies weapons and trains some units.
Officially, the Russian contingent does not include fighters who do “dirty work” - people from the “Wagner Group”. Such a unit or private military company does not formally exist. But this is on paper. In reality, the Russians managed to fight in different parts of Syria both against the Islamic State and against the “greens” - various groups that are considered a moderate opposition in the West.
When asked why Oleg went to Syria, he replies: “I was employee, but I don’t care about this war at all. I like this job, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t work there.”
Oleg is not worried that he might be called a hired killer: “That’s right, I went for the money. Maybe it’s simpler, in fact?” If you meet him on the street, you won’t recognize him as a soldier of fortune - Hollywood cliches don’t work. A regular guy. A cheerful fellow whose eyes well up with tears when he remembers his fallen comrades.
New Slavic Corps
The Wagner Group is not an ordinary private military company. This is a miniature army. “We had a full set: mortars, howitzers, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers,” explains Oleg.
In some circles, the unit's fighters are called musicians: supposedly the unit commander chose a call sign in honor of the German composer Richard Wagner. According to some reports, behind this call sign is 47-year-old reserve lieutenant colonel Dmitry Utkin. Served in special forces in Pechory. This is not the first time in Syria - before that he officially worked as part of a private military company known as the Slavic Corps.
The company was hired by Syrian tycoons to guard oil fields and convoys in Deir ez-Zor. However, in October 2013, in the city of Al-Sukhna, the guards found themselves in serious trouble: they entered into an unequal battle with the jihadists of the Islamic State. “The participants told me that there was an enchanting battle, almost a head-on battle for the city. With almost two thousand fighters against two hundred or three hundred guards,” says Oleg.
After these events, the contract between the customer and the guards broke down. According to Oleg, they did not agree on payment: the “Syrian bigwigs” refused to pay extra for more dangerous work and began to threaten the Russians. The "Slavic Corps" left Syria.
The Wagner Group has another, more serious customer - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MOD). Before being transferred to Syria in the fall of 2015, the “musicians” underwent three months of training at the Molkino training ground in direct proximity to the base of a separate special forces brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
The Wagner Group entered Syria by plane. And these were not Aeroflot airliners, Oleg says, smiling. The fighters were transported on transport aircraft of the 76th Airborne Division, which is stationed in the Pskov region.
"Pskov flights took us. From Molkino by bus to Moscow: we received international passports. From there to Chkalovsky, from Chkalovsky to Mozdok by plane. Two hours for refueling and servicing. And another five-hour flight: over the Caspian Sea, Iran, Iraq and landing on Khmeimim base. Turkey doesn’t let us through - it’s impossible directly,” explains the fighter. After arrival, they were accommodated in a sports complex in the city, which Oleg chose not to name.
Equipment, including artillery and tanks, was transported by sea using the so-called “Syrian Express” - on Russian Navy ships from Novorossiysk to Tartus. It is known from various sources that the group was sent to Syria twice: for a short period in the fall of 2015 and to participate in a longer operation in the winter and spring of the following year. Each trip is a separate contract.
As a rule, Wagner's men are experienced fighters who have gone through several conflicts. And although you won’t see recruitment advertisements in newspapers, the group had no problems recruiting specialists.
Oleg admits that he didn’t go to Wagner the first time - he didn’t trust him: “Practically, they get in by acquaintance and that’s all. As such, there is no free recruitment. When recruiting, they carry out a couple of tests: for alcohol and drug use. Then there are physical tests. In fact, there are no exams ".
Among the Wagnerites there are quite a few who fought in the Donbass on the side of the separatists. They undergo additional polygraph testing. They may even ask if they are FSB agents - intelligence agencies are not welcome in Wagner. The group has its own security department that combats information leaks. Finding photographs of Russian condottieri on the Internet is a great success. This is an offense that entails serious sanctions for the offenders.
In Syria, fighters were paid 300,000 rubles (about 4,500 euros) per month plus bonuses. There was also a kind of insurance system: about 300,000 rubles for injury and coverage of treatment costs in high-quality clinics. For death - five million rubles to the family. Although from a legal point of view the contract with the Wagner group is an insignificant piece of paper, Oleg confirms: they paid everything to the last penny and even more. But there is no talk of complete safety.
That is, do you have at least some kind of protection?
- From what?
- From the state.
- From the state, I think not.
Passed through fierce hell
The civil war in Syria is merciless - the interests of many countries are intertwined here. Hundreds of factions with different motivations are fighting on both sides of the front, but none can be denied cruelty. Oleg prefers not to think about why Russia needs this stupid war. “I haven’t seen smart wars yet,” he retorts.
According to Oleg, a predominantly secular way of life reigns in government-controlled territories. A woman in a burqa is a rarity, although many wear a hijab. In the liberated areas of Latakia, the local population is more likely to support Assad.
“In Latakia, there are portraits of Assad and Hafez Assad, the president’s father, all around. And so the locals don’t show the relationship. This Civil War- you are either for it or against it. If you try to be neutral, then you will most likely feel bad,” Oleg describes.
The locals treat the Russians well, and they almost idolize the Syrian military. “We are Russians for them. You see, they are very glad that the Russians have arrived. Finally, they think, I can sit down and drink mate again, let the Russians fight,” Oleg says, smiling. “When we arrived in the same city, They danced there all night in the squares, shooting in the air with joy. But how upset they were later when we left!"
The once prosperous Murek was abandoned by the Syrians after the Russian “musicians” left. Years of war have depleted the Syrian Arab Army's manpower. Coupled with a lack of fighting spirit and military training, only certain units remain combat-ready: “Firstly, they have no training: they don’t even know how to shoot. Secondly, they have a terrible attitude towards weapons: they don’t even clean them.”
This is largely why, according to various sources, the Wagner Group was used as a fire brigade - it operated where it was most difficult and, with the exception of the operation near Palmyra, in small groups.
“We have always been where there was the most scum, the very hell. All I saw was the fiercest hell,” Oleg does not hide his disdain for the Syrian militias and military, who, according to him, are impossible to distinguish. “God forbid, have such allies. Because they always screw up the task. Always."
In Latakia, due to the inaction of the Syrians, the “Wagner Group” suffered significant losses. Oleg retells the circumstances of that battle he heard from his colleagues with poorly concealed irritation. On that day, the Russians were supposed to cover the Syrian attack on the mountain and suppress enemy firing points on neighboring heights. After the end of the artillery preparation, the Syrians refused to attack. The Wagner group had to take over the work themselves. The ascent to the mountain passed without incident, but at the top point the Russians found themselves under fire from three sides.
“The mountain is completely bare. If you are not in the trench, it’s the end. The wounded appear, they need to be evacuated. How many people drop out? At least two are dragging, others are covering. The path along which the guys climbed was under fire - you can’t go. We had to go down the mined slope.” , says Oleg.
Wagner's fighters lost about twenty people wounded that day and not a single one killed.
The Russians tried to force the allies to attack by force - they jumped into their trenches and shot at their feet, but they did not budge. “And the Syrians did not stop firing at the heights. It turns out that they were shooting at our ass. It was hell,” Oleg complains.
According to him, in the fall the Wagner Group lost about 15 people killed. Half of them in one day: from the explosion of ammunition in a tent camp. What it was, Oleg does not know; there were versions about a mortar mine or an American bomb. In winter and spring, losses were greater, but he could not give exact figures.
This is not the only reason why Oleg does not like government forces. “They steal everything that is not nailed down. They drag everything: pipes, wiring, they even tore off tiles. I saw how they dragged a toilet,” he explains. Oleg had not heard about punishments for looting among the Syrians.
Fought for Palmyra
However, Oleg does not have a high opinion of the “women” - this is the name given to the armed opposition, which is considered moderate in the West. According to him, the concept of the Free Syrian Army should be understood as hundreds of groups, including Islamist ones, that periodically fight each other for territory: “They need to eat something.” Although he admits: “Greens are different.”
“Turkomans are good guys. Good, I respect them. They fight desperately because they are fighting for their villages. If they leave the village, everyone leaves. They are completely different people. It would be beneficial for the Syrians to push them out of Latakia completely. In fact, it’s ethnic cleansing,” - he states.
In 2016, the Wagner Group was united and transferred to Palmyra to fight the Islamic State. If in the fall there were about 600 mercenaries operating in Syria, then in the winter and spring their number doubled. “It was easier near Palmyra, because we were all herded into a heap and we carried out one integral task,” says Oleg.
According to him, there were no battles as such in the city. In difficult battles, the “Wagner group” occupied all the important heights, after which the jihadists simply left the devastated city: “There is a highway over the ridge. Ours brought out tanks and began to destroy everything that moved along it. They burned a bunch of cars. Then they went for trophies.” .
ISIS has proven itself to be a fanatical fighter, spreading terror among both Iraqis and Syrians. Oleg points out that Islamists from Europe probably fight well, but they have not encountered such people. “Blacks” are also different. They have local militias: the fighter has a machine gun and nothing else. This “black” guy doesn’t know how to fight either. There was a case. Observers reported that unknown people drove up in cars, formed a wedge and were coming towards us. They were covered with artillery, no one fired a machine gun - they put everyone down,” he recalls.
However, there are obvious advantages on the Islamists’ side: “They are very competent. Ours occupied the ridge, and they left Palmyra: they didn’t set up Stalingrad. Why is this necessary - they saved the people and moved away. And now they are constantly using small injections, constantly attacking the Syrians.”
Having completed the task, Wagner's group left the city. The laurels of the winners went to the Syrian troops, who had already entered the empty city. However, government troops did not retain the victory achieved by the Russians: on December 11, 2016, the Islamists recaptured Palmyra.
The fall of this city is eloquent confirmation that despite all the recent successes, the war is still far from over. Assad's supporters are not able to act everywhere - there are not enough forces and specialists. And not only at the front: the Wagner Group was also used to repair equipment.
“There is a huge armored tank factory in Hama. Before our guys arrived, the Syrians were repairing two tanks a month. When ours arrived, they immediately began producing 30 tanks a month. They worked from morning to evening: they, the poor ones, weren’t even allowed into the city. They worked like slaves, but in the evening they fell without legs. All of our people left, but these repairmen remained there," Oleg recalls, laughing.
The Wagner Group was withdrawn from Syria at the end of spring of this year. The last operation of the Russians was to clear the surrounding area near the airport near Palmyra. "Among the palm trees and the labyrinth stone fences", says the mercenary.
Since then, there have been no signs of Russian condottieri participating in this war. After the liberation of Palmyra, the Russian Ministry of Defense held a concert in the ancient amphitheater of the city. They played Prokofiev's music. It is quite possible that musicians may appear in this city again. Only these will be “musicians” with machine guns - a ghostly “Wagner group”.
Oleg is ready: “Of course I’ll go. At least I’ll go to Africa, Lord. It doesn’t matter where, I really like this work.”
A group of volunteers from Russia (a private military company) operating in Ukraine and then Syria in 2014-2017. The group includes retired officers from various law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation.
The prototype of “Wagner” was the Slavic Corps company, registered in Hong Kong. The fighters of this PMC took part in battles in Syria on the side of the Syrian troops, but were subject to criminal prosecution in Russia. The leadership and fighters of the PMC were suspected of mercenarism (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In 2014, the Moscow City Court sentenced PMC leaders to 3 years in prison.
Presumably, Wagner is reserve lieutenant colonel Dmitry Utkin. Until 2013, the officer commanded the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate special forces brigade of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In December 2016, Utkin was invited to a Kremlin reception in honor of the celebration of Heroes of the Fatherland Day. Fontanka reports that at the event he was awarded by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is not specified which award Wagner received.
The media reports that businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin may be helping fighters operating against militants in Syria. In addition, according to media reports, the PMC operates a training base near Krasnodar.
In 2015, the group moved to Syria, where it lost fighters when a Russian military base was shelled. In 2016, the PMC took part in the liberation of Palmyra. According to some estimates, there could be 400 members of the group in Syria. From the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016, the PMC lost 32 fighters in Syria.
In October 2017, the SBU accused the PMC of participating in a military conflict in the east of the country. In particular, the service suspects the group of shooting down an Il-76 plane and storming the Lugansk and Debaltseve airports.
Critical notes about Wagner appeared in the media. For example, in June a video appeared on YouTube, which allegedly showed PMC fighters. The men mocked the Syrian. The original source of the video was on the portal of the Funker530 veterans society (USA). Some time after publication, numerous inaccuracies were found in the video: errors in Russian-language inscriptions, inconsistencies in clothing and weapons, indicating that the video is a fake.
Russia's losses in Syria number in the dozens. But the press service of the Ministry of Defense does not lie - the fighters do not belong to the military department. Nevertheless, Landsknechts from Wagner PMCs receive real military orders.
Stanislav Zalesov/Kommersant
The fighters of a de jure non-existent private military company suffer losses in Ukraine and Syria, and at the same time do not spoil the official statistics. On grave crosses there are dates of life and death, but about the place last fight They speak in a low voice and only among their own people. Fontanka found out where you can see the truthful list of Russian losses - in decrees signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which have not been published anywhere.
The battalion with heavy infantry weapons and armored vehicles, known as the “Wagner PMC,” does not formally exist. Such a unit cannot be found either in the law enforcement agencies or in the registry legal entities. The fighters are not on the personnel lists. It cannot exist: in Russia there is no law on private military companies, and there cannot be a civilian organization with armored fighting vehicles, man-portable anti-aircraft systems and mortars in its arsenal. But it is there.
Formed on the basis of the “Slavic Corps”, battered in Syria in 2013, a conditional PMC under the command of a man with the call sign “Wagner”, according to Fontanka, has been operating in the Crimea since the spring of 2014, and then in the territory of the Lugansk region.
Since the fall of 2015, the main efforts have been transferred to Syria. Her story can be read in the Fontanka investigation.
Not everyone believed the story about the “semi-legendary” PMC. The words of nameless fighters are not enough for skeptics; they demand names and supporting documents. Fontanka is ready to provide them.
Wagner
Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin, 46 years old. A professional military man, until 2013 he was the commander of the 700th separate special forces detachment of the 2nd separate brigade of the Special Forces of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, stationed in Pechory, Pskov region. After leaving the reserve, he worked for Moran Security Group, a private company specializing in the protection of ships in pirate-prone areas. When MSG managers sent him to Syria to defend Bashar al-Assad in 2013, he participated in this failed expedition. Since 2014, he has been the commander of his own unit, which, based on his call sign, received the code name “Wagner PMC.”
Known for his commitment to the aesthetics and ideology of the Third Reich, hence the call sign in honor of the mystical composer. In Lugansk, the personnel shocked, replacing their usual field Panama hat with a steel Wehrmacht helmet - but the commander’s quirks are not discussed.
Allegedly killed in January 2016 near Donetsk Ozeryanovka, but in fact he is alive and well. Now he is either in Syria or in a training camp in Molkino.
He doesn't like to be photographed, but we found him in old footage.
An officer with the call sign “Chub” or “Chupa” is a deputy commander for combat training. Unlike Wagner, who is not favored for his adherence to straightforward tactics in the style of “Machine guns are not machine guns - checkers are drawn,” you give, Son of a bitch, position!” Chub earned the sincere respect of the personnel: “If only there were more commanders like him, and everything would be fine. I thought with my head and didn’t send people to meat.”
Real name: Sergei Chupov, 51 years old, reserve major. Killed near Damascus. Ruslan Leviev’s Conflict Intelligence Team and RBC spoke about his death. They traced the major's life path: a general military school in Almaty, Afghanistan as part of the 56th separate airborne battalion, transfer to the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 46th brigade, Chechnya, in the late nineties - transfer to the reserve.
Sergei Chupov was buried on March 18, 2016 in the cemetery of Balashikha near Moscow, on the sign the date of death is February 8, 2016.
Both CIT investigators and RBC journalists suggested that Chupov could be reinstated in the Armed Forces and participate in the Syrian conflict as a Special Operations Service officer or some kind of “negotiator.”
Apparently this is not the case. According to Fontanka, Sergei Chupov has been in the Wagner group since its formation. He did not work for Moran Security and was not in the Slavic Corps, but already in May 2014, together with Utkin and a group of veteran instructors (almost all former MSG employees), he flew from Moscow to Rostov, and from there he went to the Vesely farm , next to which the first PMC training base will be set up (later the camp will be moved to Molkino, Krasnodar Territory).
Data on the time of death also vary. The grave cross indicates February 8, 2016, but according to the recollections of the participants in the events, this could have happened in January.
Courage and Courage
The only documentary evidence of the existence of an informal battalion, somehow recognized by official structures, was found by Fontanka in documents signed by the President of Russia.
Fontanka was told that Wagner’s fighters receive state awards for military operations in Ukraine and Syria.
“On February 23, on May 9, there will be an award ceremony in Molkino. A gray-haired man in a leather officer's flight jacket arrives, looking like a security officer with the rank of no lower than major general. First, to those who are alive in the ranks, to whom the Order of Courage, to whom - “Courage”. Then he reads out those who are not in the ranks – posthumously.”
Fontanka's first reaction was disbelief. The established procedure for submitting for awarding medals and orders excludes this possibility. The documents sent prove otherwise.
Crosses from Debaltsevo
On March 6, 2015, Andrei Elmeev and Andrei Shreiner were buried on the Alley of Heroes of the Banykinsky cemetery in Tolyatti. They were both 43 years old and both had the same date of death - January 28, 2015. As the website tltgorod.ru reported, “two Tolyatti militiamen who died during the armed conflict in Donbass.”
This is not entirely accurate. Both Elmeev and Shreiner actually died in January 2015 in the battles near Debaltsevo, but had nothing to do with the real militia. They also had no relation to the regular Russian army, since they had been in the reserves for a long time and worked under a contract for Wagner. Their names were read out in the ranks on May 9, 2015: “to be awarded the Order of Courage – posthumously.”
Order of Courage – usual difference for the dead Wagnerites, veterans assured Fontanka, so these are not the only orders of PMC employees. Mentions of awards have been found before - for example, there were reports of the posthumous awarding of the Order of Courage to a 37-year-old fighter of the Slavic Corps and the Wagner PMC, St. Petersburg resident Vladimir Kamynin, who was buried in September 2014 at the Sestroretsk cemetery.
Then Fontanka did not find confirmation of the award, but, taking into account the new information, I am inclined to believe in the order.
Crosses from Syria
The tradition is continued on Syrian soil. 38-year-old Don Cossack Maxim Kolganov, a comrade of the ataman of the Zhigulevskaya village, died on February 3, 2016. As reported on the official Internet forum of the Don Cossacks forumkazakov.ru, “when performing a combat mission,” the location of the mission is not specified.
As far as Fontanka knows, Wagner PMC fighter and BMP gunner-operator Maxim Kolganov carried out a combat mission near Latakia. Colleagues of the deceased shared some photographs.
To top it off, there was a pillow with awards that were carried in front of the coffin: the medal “For Courage” and the Order of Courage.
We asked veterans to comment on photographs recently distributed on the Internet by supporters of the Islamic State banned in Russia. The authors claimed that the photo shows Russians killed in battle.
The group photo, as our experts suggested, was presumably taken not in Syria, but in the summer of 2014 in the Starobeshevsky district of the Donetsk region. One of those present in the photo was identified as a fighter with the call sign “Hose”, who subsequently died in Syria in mid-December 2015: he was blown up by an anti-personnel mine while returning with a group of seven people from a reconnaissance mission.
It was not possible to identify the rest, but looking at the photograph with the soldier on a bunk bed, the veterans recognized the residential module of the Wagner PMC near Damascus.
Invisible Battalion
How many of Wagner’s fighters died in Syria can be said either by the “personnel department” of the PMC, or by Wagner himself, or by the department of the presidential administration that prepares decrees on posthumous awards. Our interlocutors talk about dozens. The company, which entered Syria in September 2015, left it at the end of December of the same year, but, as those who returned say, out of 93 people, a third returned alive and uninjured. The main losses began in January - February, in the battles for Palmyra. The difficulty of documenting victims is that even those serving in the same platoon do not always know not only their last names, but also each other’s first names. “Curiosity is not welcome. With whom you chew lead side by side - sometimes they didn’t know their names. Who did what, who did what, they don’t talk about it,” they told Fontanka.
In Syria, according to rough estimates, there is a Wagner unit of about four hundred people. In total, in a ghostly PMC - personnel and weapons, as in a reinforced battalion, or, as they say now, a battalion-tactical group. When the journalist, asking, suggested that a detachment of 250-300 people had been formed in Molkino, he caused sincere laughter from his interlocutor:
“Are you kidding me? Count. Three reconnaissance and assault companies, each with from ninety to one hundred people. Three platoons with LNG and AGS - a fire support company. Air defense company with "Needles". Communications company. Security company. Medical unit. Plus civilians - service personnel. Without civilians – about six hundred people.”
Serbian guests
The highlight of Wagner is the Serb platoon, which began to be formed in the summer of 2014. According to Fontanka’s interlocutors, the commander of the internationalist soldiers was a Serb with the call sign “Wolf” named Davor, an old comrade of Wagner, allegedly their acquaintance began before Ukraine and even before the “Slavic Corps”. Fontanka became interested in the militant foreigner and became convinced that he was an extraordinary person.
Davor Savicic is a Serb, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, now permanently residing in Russia. By the age of 36, he had already survived charges of bombing and killing six people in Bosnian Beranam in 2001, an Interpol search, a sentence of 20 years in prison and the reversal of sentence on formal grounds.
As eyewitnesses said, Serbs came to Savicic’s unit in both 2014 and 2015 - only in the spring of 2015, four of Savicic’s acquaintances allegedly arrived, leaving French Foreign Legion for Wagner's sake.
“I don’t know what Molkino is, I have no connection with Syria at all, I’m from Bosnia and Herzegovina and I’m doing construction in Khimki,” came the answer. The owner of the page with the name Davor Savicic and his photographs in his profile and albums claimed that he was not familiar with any “Wagners and Beethovens”.
After the journalist asked him to comment on the photo in which Savicic was captured in the summer of 2014 in the company of Wagner fighters known to the editors - veterans of the “Slavic Corps”, the version changed slightly. Savicic softened his position, saying that he actually fought as a volunteer in 2014 near Lugansk, but his campaign allegedly lasted only three days, after which he was shell-shocked when an armored personnel carrier fired at a checkpoint and went for treatment. As for the people with whom he is hugging in the photo, these are random acquaintances: “I asked them to call me on the phone, and they drank three beers.”
With strained sincerity, Internet user Davor Savicic convinced us that he had not been near Krasnodar since the spring of 2015, when he went there to work on a construction site, and was now engaged in peaceful construction: “If you need repairs in your apartment, tiles, parquet, contact us.”
The correspondent almost believed him, and probably would have believed it completely, if not for the documentary evidence that Savicich visited Molkino no later than January 2016, and in October 2015 he was seen on the same plane and in adjacent seats with Sergei Chupov.
With hostility
The percentage of losses, which is not typical for private military companies, which usually perform local and highly professional tasks in a combat zone that do not involve going on the attack, was explained by those who returned alive as “World War II tactics”:
“Only there aren’t enough bayonets for the AK, otherwise it’s like World War II. As it happened near Debaltseve, people were driven into the field with equipment, and the team - your task is to take the fortification, take the checkpoint. And go ahead, just like meat. When they started attacking us with 100s, with Cords, with RPGs based on technology - people... they were simply vomiting. Direct with RPG - only arms and legs remain. They won’t send anyone into battle without training in Molkino, but what they will have time to teach is just basic shooting so as not to die right away. Those who have combat experience still somehow live more or less, but still, it’s not the same.”
In Syria, they told Fontanka, the Ur tactics continued:
“What are we doing there? We're going in the first wave. We direct aviation and artillery and drive out the enemy. Syrian special forces cheerfully come after us, and then Vesti-24, together with ORT, with cameras at the ready, go to interview them.”
The last question that we managed to ask was about who agrees to go into battle with a fifty-fifty chance for 240 thousand rubles a month. The interlocutor assured that there are many more people who want to get to Wagner than there are vacancies:
“Have you left your Petersburg for a long time? Apart from Moscow and St. Petersburg, there is no work anywhere. If you’re lucky, 15-20 thousand a month is considered good, and food prices are as if we were living in Antarctica. There is a queue at Molkino. In general, if there were PMCs officially, like abroad, it would be great. With us, we are nobody and can’t be called.”
Denis Korotkov, Fontanka.ru
