Posted on Jun 27, 2023
Putin’s Creation: History of Russia’s Mercenary Wagner Group & Its Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin
614
13
5
4
4
0
"As part of our roundtable discussion, we speak with political science professor Kimberly Marten, expert on the Wagner Group, who says this weekend’s mutiny by the mercenary group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is part of a game of “smoke and mirrors” between Russian power players. She details Prigozhin’s long history as “Putin’s servant” and says Wagner “is not really a private military group,” but has a long history of being contracted by the Russian state. “We’re just at the beginning of what’s going to happen, but neither Prighozin nor Putin came out looking very good,” says Marten".
Putin’s Creation: History of Russia’s Mercenary Wagner Group & Its Leader Yevgeny Prigozhin
Posted from democracynow.orgPosted in these groups: 
Russia
Vladimir Putin
Russia Vladimir Putin
Posted 11 mo ago
Responses: 3
2
2
0
2
2
0
Putin likes having his personal combat unit that is easy to shove to the side and he gets not blame for their atrocities. He doesn't have to fund them, feed them or house them. Just pay the contract price.
Shock troops sent in to quell a city that really have no national identity.
Shock troops sent in to quell a city that really have no national identity.
(2)
(0)
LTC Eugene Chu
Issue also involves deceiving and not supplying them. Prigozhin previously complained about finding reports of casualties being higher in Ukraine along with Wagner not receiving ammunition.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-officials-are-denying-ammunition-wagner-fighters-group-founder-2023-02-20/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-officials-are-denying-ammunition-wagner-fighters-group-founder-2023-02-20/
Russian officials are denying ammunition to Wagner fighters - group founder
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's mercenary group Wagner, accused unspecified officials of deliberately denying his fighters sufficient ammunition as part of an ongoing rivalry between himself and parts of the Russian elite.
(3)
(0)
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."AMY GOODMAN: And, Denis Pilash in Kyiv, we just have one minute, but Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Are you concerned that Putin, who has clearly been embarrassed by this, would want to distract attention, as he says he’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus? Are you concerned about this in Ukraine?
DENIS PILASH: We are mostly concerned both with this and also with the fallout after the Kakhovka Dam destruction, that was obviously made by the Russian explosion from inside. And now there are reports that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant station, the biggest one in Europe, has been also mined. So, this nuclear leverage is clearly on the table.
And the big problem is also about this general chaos in Russia, because Prigozhin is not the only oligarch with an army of his own at his disposal, and almost every major corporation, starting with the fossil fuel giant Gazprom, in Russia has its own private military company. And then you have regional governors with their military units, as well. So, this can spill out to even more chaos. But this also means that the myth of stability, one of the pillars of Putin’s regime, has eroded completely.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you all for being with us. I want to thank Denis Pilash, joining us from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. He’s a Ukrainian political scientist. Kimberly Marten, professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University. And in Moscow, Nina Khrushcheva, who is professor of international affairs at the New School, great-granddaughter of the former Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev. Of course, we’ll continue to follow this."
..."AMY GOODMAN: And, Denis Pilash in Kyiv, we just have one minute, but Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Are you concerned that Putin, who has clearly been embarrassed by this, would want to distract attention, as he says he’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus? Are you concerned about this in Ukraine?
DENIS PILASH: We are mostly concerned both with this and also with the fallout after the Kakhovka Dam destruction, that was obviously made by the Russian explosion from inside. And now there are reports that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant station, the biggest one in Europe, has been also mined. So, this nuclear leverage is clearly on the table.
And the big problem is also about this general chaos in Russia, because Prigozhin is not the only oligarch with an army of his own at his disposal, and almost every major corporation, starting with the fossil fuel giant Gazprom, in Russia has its own private military company. And then you have regional governors with their military units, as well. So, this can spill out to even more chaos. But this also means that the myth of stability, one of the pillars of Putin’s regime, has eroded completely.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you all for being with us. I want to thank Denis Pilash, joining us from the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv. He’s a Ukrainian political scientist. Kimberly Marten, professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University. And in Moscow, Nina Khrushcheva, who is professor of international affairs at the New School, great-granddaughter of the former Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev. Of course, we’ll continue to follow this."
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google