Nagy: Russia’s Wagner mercenaries – Putin’s dogs of war

In recent months Americans have become familiar with the Wagner group – brutal Russian mercenaries who have spearheaded Russia’s indefatigable months-long campaign to conquer the pile of rubble formerly known as Bakhmut, a Ukrainian city of 70,000. But those of us who follow Africa have been alarmed by Wagner’s brutal exploits for years as it continues to expand its reign of terror across more and more African nations.

Is Wagner a Private Military Company (PMC) or a shadowy part of Russia’s armed forces? Yes, and probably. The outfit gets its name from its first commander, Dmitri Utkin – a veteran of Russia’s Chechen Wars – who started the group in 2013 and named it after his radio call sign. But it’s Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s current leader, who turned the organization into a global malevolent force. Prigozhin is known as “Putin’s Chef” because their long-term friendship made him rich through contracts Putin sent to his catering business.

Although Wagner started small with hundreds of ex-Russian military “contractors” who were the “little Green Men” during Russia’s 2014 campaign to seize Ukraine, they have evolved into a multi-national conglomerate with mines, businesses, airplanes, a vast social media network, and tens of thousands of well-armed fighters. In 2015, Wagner mercenaries entered the Syrian Civil War in support of keeping President Assad in power and quickly earned their reputation for cruelty and brutality. (e.g., Killing a Syrian captive with a sledgehammer.) Their presence in Africa dates to 2017, when then Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir hired them to guard lucrative gold mines – from which Wagner also took a large cut.

I became acquainted with Wagner’s geostrategic threats in 2018, while serving as Assistant Secretary of State, when the Central African Republic’s President Touadera hired them – for his personal security detail and to help his forces combat rebel groups which controlled much of his country. In addition to brutalizing the population, Wagner also took control of some lucrative diamond mines which greatly enriched the group. In 2019, Wagner combatants fought unsuccessfully in support of Libyan warlord General Haftar’s attempts to defeat the internationally recognized government, and briefly tried to help Mozambique’s government defeat Islamist militants in a resource rich region. The Mozambique venture was a fiasco with Wagner mercenaries humiliated by the rebels, so the government quickly replaced them with Rwandan soldiers who have performed much better.

As Wagner signed more and more “clients,” its wealth and influence increased to the detriment of Western interests, especially that of our French allies. Russia undertook a well-orchestrated and financed campaign across French-speaking Africa to displace French (and by extension American) influence, and Wagner was the tip of the spear. Since 2012, France had been actively helping governments across Africa’s vast Sahel region – between the Sahara Desert and tropical Africa -- combat Islamic extremists. In 2020, soldiers in Mali, the country most impacted by Islamists, overthrew the government and invited Wagner to replace the French to help their army fight the extremists. It has been a disaster. Recently the UN issued a scathing report

blaming Wagner-led Malian forces of slaughtering over 500 villagers in Moura and conducting mass rapes over a five-day rampage. This savagery only serves to increase recruitment into the Islamist ranks. Also, worryingly, there are reports that Wagner may be seeking to obtain arms in the weapons-rich Malian environment for Russia’s Ukraine campaign.

In the just-concluded Bakhmut campaign, Wagner’s forces were estimated to number 50,000 – 40,000 of which were convicts released from prison to fight in Ukraine. Their casualties were enormous; perhaps 30,000. In addition to Prigozhin’s willingness to send his forces into the meat grinder, he has become a thorn in the side of the Russian high command by his scathing public criticism of their capabilities, leadership, and patriotism. Anyone else making these kinds of public statements would be long arrested or worse. But Prigozhin’s friendship with Putin not only insulates him from retribution, but seemingly he is saying things Putin may actually support – given the overall fiasco the Ukraine “Special Military Operation” has become. And Putin no doubt feels more secure having a parallel military force led by a loyalist which could help protect him in case his generals tire of the Ukraine losses. But if Putin were to leave the scene, Russia’s military leaders would no doubt seek revenge and Prigozhin’s personal safety would be precarious.

Tragically, until that happens, Wagner’s influence and malevolence will continue to spread. Instead of ending conflicts they deepen them and add to the suffering. Other African countries are considering engaging Wagner, and their presence in the Sahel is contributing to threats to destabilize Western allies such as Chad and add complications to ending the current conflict in Sudan. In a recent interview Prigozhin said that instead of being known as “Putin’s Chef” he should be called “Putin’s Butcher.” Tragically, how apt.

Ambassador Tibor Nagy was most recently Assistant Secretary of State for Africa after serving as Texas Tech’s Vice Provost for International Affairs and a 30-year career as a US Diplomat. Follow him on Twitter @TiborPNagyJr

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Nagy: Russia’s Wagner mercenaries – Putin’s dogs of war