First jail, then escape: Wagner mercenaries leave Putin hanging in the Ukraine war
Created: 2023-01-02 13:58
By: Jens Kiffmeier
Embarrassing for the private army: The Wagner Group also recruits its mercenaries for the Ukraine war in prisons.
But six prisoners escaped.
Moscow – Tempting offer rejected: Because of the high losses in the Ukraine war, Russia is also recruiting its fighters in prisons.
Impunity awaits them for serving their fatherland.
But some inmates have now shortened the deal.
Six men are said to have used the first opportunity to escape and fled from a training center run by the notorious Wagner Group.
Heavily armed they are now in hiding.
The incident shows how fragile the strategy of Russian President Vladimir Putin is.
Ukraine war current: prisoners recruited by the Wagner mercenaries are on the run
The men who were in prison in Russia for drug possession were actually supposed to be sent to the front for Wagner's private army in the Ukraine war shortly.
As the
editorial network Germany
(RND) reports, citing the Russian broadcaster
Tsargrad
, the prisoners in the Luhansk region were prepared for their deployment in a training center.
But instead of fighting for their impunity as mercenaries, they looked for another way out.
"They signed the mercenary contracts to flee with their weapons at the first opportunity," the TV station reported.
Not everyone wants to fight his Wagner mercenary troupe: Yevgeny Prigozhin confirms that recruited prisoners escaped.
© Evgeniy Maloletka/ Sergei Ilnitsky/dpa/Montage
According to the media report, these are men from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Posters are already being used to publicly search for them.
The head of the Wagner mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, confirmed the incident.
But at the same time, the mercenary boss, who recently attended a training camp himself and was presented with a bizarre gift, also dismissed the idea.
Don't worry, you have the situation under control, he wrote on his Telegram channel.
On the front lines in Luhansk and Donetsk and on the territory of Russia there would be “a lot of scoundrels”.
The deserters would certainly be tracked down by their own security service and the National Guard.
Wagner mercenary troops: Yevgeny Prigozhin uses his private army on the front line in the Ukraine war
The Wagner Group is notorious for its brutal and unscrupulous actions.
The Wagner mercenary troupe was set up by Prigozhin, who is also known by his nickname "Putin's cook".
He is considered a close confidant of the Russian President.
After stirring up international trouble spots with his mercenaries in earlier years, his influence in the Ukraine war is also increasing.
The troops are said to act primarily in the hard-fought sections of the front and be responsible for a number of war crimes.
Most recently, Prigozhin has repeatedly been traded as a potential successor in the event of Putin's fall.
The Wagner mercenaries and the origin of their name
The Wagner group is a paramilitary unit founded by the chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Since they were founded in 2014, Russia's mercenaries have been considered the shadow army of the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin and are said to have been active in numerous crisis regions.
The Wagner group can also be associated with torture and executions.
The origin of the name of the military company has a National Socialist background.
The troupe was reportedly named after Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, Richard Wagner.
However, the Wagner troops have repeatedly suffered high losses in recent months - as has the Russian army as a whole.
With a successful counter-offensive, the Ukrainian troops pushed back the attackers in some regions of eastern Ukraine.
Although land gains are currently stagnating because of the onset of winter, the number of casualties in the trench warfare remains high.
On Monday, January 2, 2023, the Ukrainian General Staff again reported 720 Russian soldiers killed.
Wagner group in the Ukraine war: Prigozhin recruits tens of thousands of fighters for his private army
The information cannot be independently verified.
But Russia's Kremlin had stepped up efforts to compensate for losses in its own ranks.
He recruited more than 300,000 reservists for the Ukraine war through partial mobilization.
Also, Russia started recruiting in prisons.
It is unclear how many prisoners agreed to a deal.
In September, some Russian non-governmental organizations put the number of prisoners at around 10,000.
But by the end of the year, the number will have grown to 40,000, White House communications director John Kirby had speculated at the end of December.
With our newsletter you won't miss anything from your surroundings, Germany and the world - register now for free!
They are all said to have been offered freedom after six months in the Ukraine war.
In addition, 100,000 rubles were promised.
But not even the Kremlin believes that money alone is enough as a lure.
As a precaution, Putin's security apparatus recently increased the penalties for deserters.
Those who flee from the front are now facing life imprisonment.
But that didn't stop the six recruits from the Wagner army from fleeing.
(
jkf
)
