Kitchen of a private army. PMC "Wagner Group" - an all-powerful shadow army originally from the St. Petersburg Fontanka Year of radical changes in Syria

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has often appeared in the media lately. The other day he was noticed at negotiations between the heads of the military departments of Russia and Libya, held in Moscow. Sources from the state agency RIA Novosti, citing an unnamed source, claim that the restaurateur only prepared lunch and participated in the discussion of the cultural program.

But Novaya Gazeta journalists, who discovered the businessman in video footage of the negotiations, suggest that Prigozhin’s appearance is more likely connected with reports of the appearance of private Russian mercenary specialists in Libya. Private military companies (PMCs) are illegal in Russia, but there is plenty of evidence that they exist. The main one is known as Wagner PMC and is believed to be controlled by Prigozhin.

Earlier, Novaya Gazeta published an investigation and interview about secret operations in the interests of a businessman, according to people who worked for him. In response, the publication received a number of public threats - a basket with a severed ram's head and funeral wreaths were thrown at the Novaya Gazeta editorial office. In the basket with a ram's head there was a note "To the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta with greetings to you and Korotkov." Denis Korotkov is the author of the investigation. DW recorded an interview with him.

DW: After publication, do you stay in Russia or are you abroad now?

Denis Korotkov: I live in Russia, in St. Petersburg, and have no plans to move.

- Do you take threats against you seriously?

I watch all these performances with deep satisfaction. I am especially pleased with the widespread attack in the media and on portals controlled, as we understand, by Mr. Prigozhin...

- ... where you are called a traitor, a traitor to the motherland and an accomplice of terrorists?

Absolutely. And I do this for one simple reason. If our opponents chose this method of response, then this is much better than other provocations that could result in an attack or unexpected meetings in the entrances. It's better to let it be this way.

- Do you receive personal threats, in addition to these public ones?

During the entire period of my work, no one threatened me personally, neither by phone, nor in personal meetings, nor in instant messengers, nor by other electronic means of communication. Another thing is that on the Internet I see all sorts of wishes to impale me or otherwise explain to me what I should and should not write, but reading such things about myself is apparently part of the job.

I cannot give an answer on the size of this group. I am flattered that you think so, but if information comes to me, it is usually with a time delay. The tasks they perform now are more or less known. This is the protection and defense of part of the oil and gas infrastructure. There was no information about any major military operations, nor about major losses - with the exception of the latest information about the explosion in Deir ez-Zor.

- At one time, as you say, you came into possession of a large number of original PMC documents, employee profiles, for example. Do you have documents at your disposal that would shed light on the expenses of this private military company?

I think a couple of accountants in Molkino know how much is spent on PMCs (it is believed that there, in the Krasnodar Territory, there is a training base for employees of the Wagner PMC. - Ed.), known by name. And the command of this group. It is generally unrealistic to calculate expenses correctly. RBC tried to do this at one time, and they did a lot of work. But, it seems to me, they were also lying a little. To some extent, it is possible to calculate the costs of salaries of personnel, compensation for the wounded and dead, which is also not so easy to do.

In terms of staff strength, Wagner’s group consists, in my opinion, of slightly less than three thousand people. But how many of these three thousand are currently carrying out a combat mission, and how many are in retraining or on vacation in Molkino, or are at home on the telephone, we do not know.

A fighter at home or in Molkino receives 80 thousand rubles, or he is on a combat mission and receives 240-250 thousand - the difference is already significant. It is not clear how to calculate food expenses. I'm not even talking about the costs of combat support - it is unclear through what channels it comes. In Syria, it seems to be through the Syrian side. But who pays for them and how? Either it goes towards offset or under a contract on a gratuitous basis - at least I don’t know.

- What do you know about the activities of Wagner PMCs in other locations? In Libya, Central African Republic, Sudan? Is she active in Donbass?

Let's immediately say that this is my data. I am not aware of any serious activity on the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions or “DPR” and “LPR” since the end of 2015. Although back in 2016, certain groups interacted with the Ministry of State Security of the “LPR”, but this was targeted work.

Of course, Wagner PMCs are present in both Sudan and the Central African Republic. As far as I know, small instructor groups are located in Madagascar. We emphasize that we have a specific structure in mind, but it can appear under different names. As far as I know, a company is registered in the CAR (under a different name. - Ed.), in Syria an agreement was concluded on behalf of the limited liability company Europolis, and so on.

- Do you follow the fate of other people who, like you, are investigating the activities of Russian PMCs? Expert Vladimir Neelov was recently arrested on charges of treason. In the summer, three Russians died in the Central African Republic.Journalist from Yekaterinburg Maxim Borodin, who also wrote about Wagner PMC, died. Some of his friends doubt that it was suicide. What do you think?

Well, first of all, I wouldn't call myself a "researcher." I am a journalist. When there is data and a reason, we talk about what we know. As for Borodin, I find myself in an uncomfortable position, but I see no reason to consider this tragic incident related to his professional activities. I emphasize - from what I read in the media.

Do I believe that the three Russians in the CAR were liquidated by employees of the Wagner group or with their participation in any way? Yes, I think this is acceptable, but I do not have the slightest confirmation. I assume that it has nothing to do with the Wagner group? I admit it too.

As for the arrest of military expert Vladimir Neelov, he and I are definitely not colleagues. Various jobs. It seems that he co-wrote two books with Oleg Vitalievich Valetsky. The fact that Mr. Valetsky, a famous soldier of fortune (I say this neutrally), collaborated with the Wagner PMC and not only collaborated, but was directly in its ranks, is actually no secret. Federal News Agency (controlled, it is believed, by Yevgeny Prigozhin. - Ed.) provided correspondence where Mr. Valetsky denies everything - for me this is strange, because the newspaper (Novaya Gazeta - Ed.) has documentary evidence to the contrary.

- In one interview, you expressed bewilderment that information about the activities of private military companies does not resonate in Russia, saying that no one cares. But you risk a lot. How do you motivate yourself to continue doing this?

There is a job and a task. I will express purely my opinion. I don't dare take on the burden of rebuilding the world. My job is to provide information. By the very fact of provision, I completed the task. Its use is no longer for us. And all the expressions like “the press achieved it”, “fought for” seem incorrect to me. We take on a lot. Nobody authorized us. Our job is to tell.

https://www.dw.com/ru/%D0%B6%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82-% D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%B3%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8B-%D0%BE% D0%B1-%D1%83%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B0%D1%85-%D0%B2-%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE -%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%81-%D0%BB%D1%83%D1%87%D1%88%D0%B5-%D0%BF%D1% 83%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%82-%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BA/a- 46259195

After a series of publications about the Wagner PMC - probably associated with restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin - journalist Denis Korotkov is forced to be more careful when entering the front door. Online trolls exchange his personal data, including his address, on the Internet and promise to straighten his brains out.

For two days - August 21 and 23 - the online newspaper Fontanka published an investigation (5 materials) about the “private military company Wagner”, which fought in the Donbass and Syria. Journalist Denis Korotkov spoke about the commanders of the armed formation, human losses, the location of the training base (coinciding with the location of military unit 51532 of the Ministry of Defense in the village of Molkino) and the motives of the Russians who went to kill as part of the semi-legal “Wagner group”.

Wagner PMC is not officially registered and is not associated with the Ministry of Defense. She fought on the side of the separatists in Ukraine, and later the mercenaries were transferred to Syria. According to some reports, the group acts in the interests of Euro Policy LLC, which is associated with restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin. Fontanka reported that the company entered into a memorandum with the Assad government, according to which it is obliged to liberate oil fields and oil infrastructure from opponents of the regime and protect them. For this, a company near Moscow with an authorized capital of 10 thousand rubles is entitled to a quarter of the oil and gas production and reimbursement of expenses for military operations.

In early August, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense once again dismissed information about Wagner PMCs. “Some rumors, data from social networks and fictitious conversations with allegedly intimidated anonymous “relatives and acquaintances,” this is how Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov commented on a Reuters publication about unaccounted casualties among Russians in Syria.

It will be more difficult to say the same about Korotkov’s materials. Fontanka publications contain many documents: photographs of mercenaries at a training base in the Krasnodar Territory (Molkino village), copies of passports of the dead, questionnaires filled out by future mercenaries. Perhaps this is precisely why Internet trolls are interested in the figure of Denis Korotkov.

On August 23, a LiveJournal user with the nickname @manzal said in his post that Denis Korotkov is a former police officer, although Denis himself did not advertise this information anywhere. After the comment that “it’s time to feel the journalist’s udder,” anonymous people began discussing addresses where Korotkov could live.

The editors of Fontanka believe that if the place of registration can be found in databases, then the real place of residence can only be found as a result of surveillance. The blog author deleted comments with addresses at the request of Fontanka. The editors also believe that the threat to their author comes not only from the network - the decision could have been made at a much more serious level: “According to our information, after Korotkov’s articles, a meeting was held in structures associated with the Wagner group. The essence of the decisions taken was conveyed to Fontanka, but we still hope for common sense.”

Denis Korotkov told Novaya that this is the first time he has received direct threats. “I had to write a lot about not the most pleasant people,” he says, “but for someone to have the brains to make direct threats, I don’t remember that.” The journalist’s fears stem from the fact that the address published online scatters the circle of those responsible for a possible attack: “If I now get hit on the head with a pipe in the entrance, they will say that some concerned patriots read it and hit me on the head.”

Threats can be interpreted in a non-standard way, the journalist believes. “I would consider this as a provocation - so that we publish even more materials. Despite the obvious ( negative. - Ed.) my attitude towards illegal armed groups, we did not publish the data of relatives and living fighters of this formation. And despite such a flow of crap, we will not allow ourselves to do this in the future,” Korotkov said.

Denis himself and the editors of Fontanka took reasonable precautions. Korotkov is still working; the threats will not affect the tone of future materials in any way. “This is an inevitable part of the work of journalists all over the world if they deal with serious topics,” says Fontanka editor-in-chief Alexander Gorshkov. - Such topics should not be liked by everyone - this is not a copper coin. It’s not that we’re used to it, we don’t want to get used to it.”

According to Gorshkov, the police have already taken charge of the incident. Deputy Boris Vishnevsky (Yabloko) sent an appeal to the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the region with a request to ensure Korotkov’s safety and identify those who threatened him. “Maximum publicity of this story is one of the few means that we have in our arsenal,” concluded Alexander Gorshkov.

Restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin became a widely discussed person in 2013. Novaya Gazeta then spoke about a “troll factory” - Internet Research Agency LLC - whose employees received salaries for pro-Kremlin posts and comments on social networks. Investigations by several media outlets have shown that the “factory” was sponsored by Prigozhin’s company Concord and is linked to attacks on online critics of the Russian authorities.

The fighters of the “private military company (PMC) Wagner,” who, according to media reports, are participating in military operations in Syria, have begun to have problems with payment of wages. In addition, “mercenaries,” whose existence is denied by the Russian Ministry of Defense, began to be issued machine guns, which were in service in the 1950-1960s in the USSR. Fontanka journalists report this with reference to documents and words of military personnel who returned from Syria.

According to the publication, since the beginning of 2017, the Wagner PMC fighters have changed the procedure for paying salaries. From now on, only a fighter of a reconnaissance and assault company involved in combat operations receives 240 thousand rubles a month. Hayat plant security, artillerymen, unmanned aerial vehicle operators and support units receive about 160 thousand rubles per month. At the same time, unlike in previous years, Wagner PMC began to experience delays in the payment of cash benefits.

In addition, as journalists learned, if previously soldiers received an unlimited amount of ammunition for training, since the beginning of the year, each soldier has been given 20 rounds of ammunition for shooting, four magazines and 120 rounds of ammunition for each machine gun.

One of the Wagner PMC companies received 1946 model RP-46 company machine guns. As the publication notes, in the USSR army these weapons were replaced by PCs and RPKs back in the 60s of the last century.

The interaction of mercenaries with the Russian air group in Syria has worsened

In addition, information about the deterioration of interaction between Wagner PMC and army aviation and artillery was also leaked to the media. Their joint work has been “reduced to almost zero,” journalists note. According to them, helicopters of the Russian group no longer take part in the evacuation of the wounded of the Wagner PMC battalion, which significantly complicates the delivery of victims to hospitals.

Moreover, according to the publication, military transport aviation has completely refused to transport wounded PMC soldiers. Now they have to be transported almost in the cargo compartments of charter flights of a Syrian airline flying to Rostov.

Last August, RBC magazine published an investigation into the activities of PMC Wagner. Then it was reported that her camp was located in the Krasnodar region on the Molkino farm. The 10th separate special forces brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Ministry of Defense is also stationed there. It is the GRU that secretly supervises the “Wagner Group,” a Defense Ministry officer and an FSB officer confirmed to reporters, adding that this detachment arose after “the situation in the world worsened.”

The maintenance of the base is on the balance sheet of the War Ministry. On average, in 2015-2016, the Ministry of Defense spent 14.7 million rubles on military units, excluding classified contracts. Some tenders were won by companies associated with St. Petersburg restaurateur Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is called a person from the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fontanka wrote that over the past two years, Wagner has been moving around Russia, accompanied by people working for Prigozhin.

Prigozhin's companies are among the largest service providers for the Ministry of Defense. RBC did not find evidence that they financed PMCs. At the same time, the volume of services provided by companies associated with the businessman to the Ministry of Defense and its structures has recently increased significantly: if in 2014 it amounted to 575 million rubles, then in 2015 it reached 68.6 billion rubles. This is the lion's share of all government contracts that 14 companies received. In 2015, the total volume of tenders they won amounted to 72.2 billion rubles. Journalists were unable to establish whether the Krasnodar PMC camp is supplied from the same government orders as the GRU camp at the same base.

In July of this year, the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) investigative group suspected Wagner PMC fighters of torturing prisoners of war in Syria. This conclusion was made based on an analysis of a video in which a man is beaten with a sledgehammer to the song “I am Russian special forces.” In the video, Russian-speaking armed men beat a man with a sledgehammer, calling him an ISIS member*. The head of another man is also visible: it was either cut off, or the man was buried up to his neck in the ground or filled with concrete.

CIT believes that the video takes place in the desert in eastern Syria, where the Wagnerites are operating in gas and phosphate deposits in the Palmyra area, which, under an agreement with the Syrian government, Russian companies intend to develop.

There is no law on private military companies in Russia. However, "volunteers" like the Wagner Squad appear in various combat zones. According to some reports, they suffer heavy losses in battles - hundreds of people are counted. Officially, the leadership of the Russian Federation admits that only Russian instructors and military advisers are present in Syria, who help the Syrians master equipment supplied from Russia and prepare it to fight terrorists.

The military operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) in Syria began on September 30 last year. On March 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of Russian troops from Syria. However, some military equipment and a limited contingent of military personnel remained in the country to support the Syrian government army in the fight against terrorist groups.

*"Islamic State" - IS, ISIS - a terrorist organization banned in Russia

For two days, on August 21 and 23, the online newspaper Fontanka published an investigation (five materials) about the “Wagner private military company” that fought in the Donbass and Syria. Journalist Denis Korotkov spoke about the commanders of the armed formation, human losses, the location of the training base (coinciding with the location of military unit 51532 of the Ministry of Defense in the village of Molkino) and the motives of the Russians who went to kill as part of the “Wagner group”.

Wagner PMC is not officially registered and is not associated with the Ministry of Defense. She fought on the side of the separatists in Ukraine, and later the mercenaries were transferred to Syria.

At the beginning of August, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense once again dismissed information about the Wagner PMC. “Some rumors, data from social networks and fictitious conversations with allegedly “intimidated” anonymous “relatives and acquaintances,” this is how Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov commented on a Reuters publication about unaccounted casualties among Russians in Syria.

It will be more difficult to say the same about Korotkov’s materials. Fontanka publications contain many documents: photographs of mercenaries at a training base in the Krasnodar Territory (Molkino village), copies of passports of the dead, questionnaires filled out by future mercenaries. Perhaps this is precisely why Internet trolls are interested in the figure of Denis Korotkov.

On August 23, a LiveJournal user with the nickname @manzal said in his post that Denis Korotkov is a former police officer, although Denis himself did not advertise this information anywhere. After the comment that “it’s time to touch the journalist’s udders...”, anonymous people began discussing addresses where Korotkov could live.

The editors of Fontanka believe that if the place of registration can be found in databases, then the real place of residence can only be found as a result of surveillance. The blog author deleted comments with addresses at the request of Fontanka. The editors also believe that the threat to their author comes not only from the Internet - the decision could have been made at a much more serious level: “According to our information, after Korotkov’s articles, a meeting was held in structures associated with the Wagner Group. The essence of the decisions taken was conveyed to Fontanka, but we still hope for common sense.”

Denis Korotkov told Novaya that this is the first time he has received direct threats. “I had to write a lot about not the most pleasant people,” he says, “but for someone to have the brains to make direct threats, I don’t remember that.” The journalist’s concerns stem from the fact that the address published on the Internet scatters the circle of those responsible for the possible attack. “If I now get hit on the head with a pipe in the entrance, they will say that some concerned patriots read it and hit me on the head,” Korotkov suggests.

Threats can be interpreted in a non-standard way, the journalist believes. “I would consider this as a provocation - so that we publish even more materials. Despite the obvious ( negative. — Ed.) my attitude towards illegal armed groups, we did not publish the data of relatives and living fighters of this formation. And, despite such a flow of crap, we will not allow ourselves to do this in the future,” Korotkov said.

Denis himself and the Fontanka editorial board took “reasonable precautions.” Korotkov is still working. The editors assure that the threats will not affect the tone of future materials in any way. “This is an inevitable part of the work of journalists all over the world if they deal with serious topics,” says Fontanka editor-in-chief Alexander Gorshkov. - Such topics should not appeal to everyone - this is not a copper coin. It’s not that we’re used to it—we don’t want to get used to it.”

According to Gorshkov, the police have already taken charge of the incident. Deputy Boris Vishnevsky (Yabloko) sent an appeal to the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the region with a request to ensure Korotkov’s safety and identify those who threatened him. “Maximum publicity of this story is one of the few means that we have in our arsenal,” concluded Alexander Gorshkov.

It is interesting to observe the change in the direction of the fight against the Russian army in the press. Both foreign and Russian. It must be recognized that the methods of such struggle have become more sophisticated. Now no one takes seriously obvious “stuffing”, like “the Russians fled from ..., abandoning the wounded, weapons and equipment.” Any information can be easily verified, and the author of such “stuffing” will not be trusted.

And the Russian army gives little reason to criticize it. Georgia, Crimea, Syria... Problems are being solved. And they are being decided in a situation where it would be much more difficult for the armies of other countries. Any “puncture” causes a flurry of articles about the weakness and inability of the Russian army to protect us. Be it a downed plane or a plane lost on the Admiral Kuznetsov. We cannot have losses in war. This is probably the main motive for such attack articles.

It is clear that the enemy, and I consider those who periodically “crap” our army as opponents, enemies, if you will, are looking for ways to discredit our army in the eyes of those who see precisely the strength of the RF Armed Forces. The armies of Europe and the United States have seriously screwed up in Syria. It turned out that, despite criticism of the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces, it is Russia that really wins. The rest just kill. They kill without really thinking about who. A shell from a large-caliber artillery shell at city blocks or a bomb there kills “selectively”. They don’t touch civilians, but the militants standing nearby (only if they are not “moderate”) are mowed down in the thousands.

Today, many publications have published articles “from reliable sources from everywhere,” which actively promote the idea that Russia owes its successes in Syria and other places not to its army, but to... private military companies! It is not the trained and constantly trained soldiers and officers of the Ministry of Defense and other law enforcement agencies that perform the most difficult tasks, but employees of private military companies. Former special forces soldiers and retired officers.

The funny thing is that even among our readers there are those who believe in this nonsense. Turn on your brain in order to understand that a retiree 50 and older (and many are in this category today) will never be able to “work” more efficiently than a 30-40 year old man. Even with excellent training in the past.

The first “test of the pen” in this direction was made in 2014. It was then that reports appeared in the press from “unnamed but reliable sources” in the Donbass about the participation of PMCs on the Republican side in the conflict. It was then that the “journalists” threw in this material to look at the reaction of the authorities of Russia, Donetsk, Lugansk and Kyiv.

It was then that readers learned about the “Slavic Corps” and the “Wagner Group”. The “smog” in the materials was such that only a truly prepared reader could understand where the truth was and where the lies were. That is why the reaction from official and unofficial persons was calm. Bullshit. What should I comment on? There is a law, there is a constitution. Read and everything will fall into place.

In order to understand this reaction, it is necessary to return to the origins of these materials. In Russia, the spread of this topic is mainly due to the publication from the city - “the cradle of three revolutions” and the “Chizhik-Pyzhikov” title. The materials are based on the study of the experience of conducting combat operations by foreign armies. This is the “Western cliché” that they tried to “put” on the Russian army.

Western armies, in particular the Americans, do widely use PMCs in other countries. This is due to the fact that large losses of the army during combat operations can cause public protest and force the operation to be stopped even before the end of the war. Such cases have happened. In 1993, in Mogadishu (Somalia), the Americans lost 18 people killed and about 80 wounded. The operation was stopped and the troops were withdrawn. And the losses of PMCs do not in any way affect the image of the army. Nothing personal, just business.

Today, those who are “instructors” in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan are most often employees of PMCs. Former military personnel, but now private citizens.

Those materials passed without much excitement. Moreover, journalists “shamefully remained silent” about the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Constitution of Russia. Meanwhile, the participation of a citizen in armed conflicts on the territory of other countries provides for 7 full years in some Mordovian colony (Article 359). And for recruiting, training and financing mercenaries - 15 years.

Very often, supporters of the idea of ​​private military companies refer to the Montreux Document. It is in this agreement that 17 countries (Russia did not sign, if anyone is not aware) allow their citizens to provide services for armed security of facilities, maintenance of military complexes, training of specialists, etc. In Russia, by the way, there is a fairly strong lobby that advocates the adoption of the law on PMCs and the Montreux Document.

In March last year, deputies Gennady Nosovko and Oleg Mikheev (A Just Russia) introduced a bill to legalize PMCs. However, we received a clear answer from the government of the Russian Federation that the project contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 13, Part 5). Those who would be directly involved in PMCs reacted in the same way. Ministry of Defense, FSB and Prosecutor General's Office. Even the relevant committee of the State Duma gave a negative review. The bill was successfully withdrawn six months later.

From all of the above we can draw a simple conclusion. There are no real, legal PMCs in Russia. Those that are on the market under Russian names are nothing more than companies created somewhere offshore. The companies do the same work as others, but nothing connects them with Russia. Accordingly, Russians who work in such companies work abroad, risking falling under Article 359 in Russia. As it happened with some “workers” of the “Slavic Corps” from Hong Kong. In January 2015, the leaders of the Slavic Corps, Evgeny Sidorov and Vadim Gusev, received 3 years in prison for participating in battles in the Al-Sukhna region (Homs province).

Now about the main thing. About who today, according to some media, is the “culprit” for the victories of the Russian army in Syria? It turns out to be the “Wagner group”. It is about this company that you can read everything in the same “chizhik-pyzhikov.ru” publication, in Baltic publications, in Polish... There is no point in listing “friends”. Readers are literate people. They will find and draw their own conclusions.

Journalists from the “cradle of revolutions” first reported on this group in October 2015. Then the country was “seething” from the events in Crimea and Donbass.

Readers will remember the role of "polite people" in these events. And now, just for the sake of testing your brain’s ability to create “ducks,” try to connect Crimea, “polite people” and PMCs...

Was it stupid? But it was precisely this nonsense that journalists from the city on the Neva presented as verified information. The Wagner group, or more precisely, a detachment of former employees of the “Slavic Corps”, was seen among the “polite people”! In February-March, the “Wagner Group” allegedly actively took part in the events in Crimea as part of the Russian Armed Forces.

About a little over a year later, a new message followed. Now the “Wagner Group” is fighting in the Donbass. And as an independent squad! I know that such detachments really existed. More precisely, groups. It would be a stretch to call these units a detachment. And they performed primarily reconnaissance tasks. But they acted in 2014. When the Republican army received a normal army structure, the units were absorbed into the units or disbanded.

Who is this terrible, omnipresent Wagner? From open sources it is known that this is Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Utkin. He served in the GRU special forces brigade in Pskov. In 2013, he signed a contract with the Slavic Corps and left for the Middle East. It was there that he became the commander of a detachment of fighters from Anton Andreev’s company “Slavonik Corps Limited” (the official name of the “Slavic Corps”).

Further more. The “Wagner Group” has simply become a treasure trove for various kinds of stuffing. The beginning was made by the fairly well-known and authoritative publication WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) at the end of 2015. Then the journalists of this publication spoke about the death of 9 people from the “Wagner group” in Syria. So what is next...

Today you can read quite serious articles about the “Wagner Group” as a highly classified unit of the GRU. “Irrefutable facts” are presented that this PMC is subordinate to the Russian Defense Ministry. This is also a base in Molkino, where fighters are trained before being sent to Syria. This includes transporting fighters on Russian military aircraft. This includes supplying the “group” with weapons and armored vehicles through the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Readers (as people associated with military topics) can independently add to the list of “military secrets of the most secret military unit” of the Russian army. You can write whatever you want. Moreover, the “excuses” have already been created before you. It is impossible to refer to anyone from the “Wagner group”: there “are very strict rules” regarding secrecy. And violating these rules threatens a person with “very serious consequences.” A sort of symbiosis of a military unit and a gang of criminals who are “tied in blood” and “respond with life.”

In the same way, you can talk about the “combat operations” of PMCs, referring to employees of the Ministry of Defense, FSB, GRU, sanitary and epidemiological station or environmental protection agency who wished to remain anonymous. But the question arises: are there really PMCs or any security structures in Syria? Still, “smoke without fire”...

The answer is simple. Yes, such structures really exist. And they really do security. Therefore, the personnel of those whom we know reliably are most often former employees of the law enforcement agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other security specialists. In February 2016, Sergei Chupov died in Syria. A former officer of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, who retired in the early 2000s and began working for PMCs. Chupov went through two Chechen wars. According to some reports, he was part of the “Wagner group”.

Private companies that have their business in “hot spots” often use such PMCs specifically to protect their business. Agree, any oil or gas pipeline is a sufficiently vulnerable and expensive object to neglect the security service. The losses can be such that you can even lose your entire business. And guarding such objects with “guards” without serious small arms is stupid.

Private companies cannot attract army units. Army soldiers do not have such powers and perform completely different tasks. By the way, such security is carried out by all companies that operate in difficult conditions. Companies from any country. In the same way, it was PMC fighters who guarded ships in the Gulf of Aden.

There is one last aspect that I would like to mention. It has nothing to do with our internal affairs. It's more external. At the beginning of the article, I wrote that our “friends” from the Baltic states and Poland write a lot about Russian PMCs. What caused such interest in Russian PMCs in these countries? It seems that NATO has already sent soldiers there. And armored vehicles.

The fact is that the armies of these countries are a pitiful semblance of a modern army. Any politician and military man understands perfectly well that such armies are needed only for parades. In real life, these warriors will not be able to do anything. And they won't want to. And "Leopards" and "Abrams" in the Baltic swamps are nothing more than a target. And it is necessary to create the illusion of at least a ghostly opportunity to resist the Russian army.

This is where numerous stuff about PMCs was needed. The idea is simple. The Russian army is no stronger than ours. She's just bigger. But well-trained PMCs are truly powerful. Moreover, one against which the army is powerless. An Estonian hunter will be able to calmly hold back the advance of an entire unit. Moreover, it will act in their native places. In the same way, trained guards will be able to wage a long-term war with the enemy army in the nearest forest.

The algorithm is as simple as a Makarov pistol. It’s just that the evidence base is completely sad. And in fact it turns out that Wagner PMC won everything. And in Crimea, and in the Donbass, and now in Syria. How many people should a company have? “Academy”/“Blackwater” are nervously smoking on the sidelines.

And then, why only Wagner? Is there no one else? Or is everyone “even more secret” than Wagner?

Funny and disgusting. In a 50/50 ratio.

It's funny because it's funny to watch how every year a bunch of keyboard figures create more and more outright nonsense and stupidity around Wagner. And the limit is not yet visible, to be honest. Having squeezed out Crimea, defeated the Ukrainian Armed Forces, defeated terrorists in Syria, what next? Next, Wagner will probably plan and carry out the takeover of the world.

Stop. The world is being taken over by Putin. According to those same publications gushing with hypotheses. Putin’s right hand is Shoigu; apparently, Wagner is destined for the role of his left hand.

One gets the feeling that Wagner’s PMC is a kind of army. In the dark. It's just not visible. But this is another army with tanks, self-propelled guns, and other things that the “source” gushed about. Well, and in numbers accordingly. Here we are not even talking about thousands... Dozens are sitting in the dark.

But that's not the point. The point is how brains are processed today. Where does everything come from? We conducted our own small investigation and, with considerable surprise, noted the fact that absolutely all the cries about Wagner’s “huge shadow army” come from one place.

In St. Petersburg we have such a phenomenon as Fontanka.ru. That's where it flows from. Since 2015. Someone decided to “saddle” the PMC theme and throw out fountains with enviable regularity.

Everything would be fine, but as soon as the next fountain appears, our Baltic neighbors immediately begin to vigorously inflate it. And then the Poles... and off we go. Materials are quoted, analyzed, inflated. And ours too.

And now a fair share of the audience is beginning to believe that the “shadow army” really exists. This is how outright speculation and invented “eyewitnesses” drop grains of doubt into the heads of readers.

This is what’s disgusting.