Nothing works without a signature: Putin apparently personally pardons criminals for “Wagner”
Created: 01/13/2023 11:08 am
By: Bona Hyun
Putin Secretly Pardons Russian Prisoners to Boost Wagner Group Recruitment
© Mikhail Klimentyev/dpa
Putin may have personally pardoned Russian prisoners in private.
Probably in favor of the Wagner group.
Moscow – Heavy fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar continues.
Military bloggers are certain: Moscow owes the supposed or supposed successes in Soledar largely to the Wagner group.
In the Ukraine war, the mercenary troop is becoming increasingly important.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin's influence is growing.
Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin apparently wants to support the Wagner group and is said to have pardoned Russian prisoners for this.
Fighting in Soledar: Putin probably quietly pardoned offenders for the Wagner group
According to media reports, Putin wants to encourage Russian convicts to sign a mercenary contract for Prigozhin's Wagner group and be able to act in the aggressive war in Ukraine with impunity.
This is reported by the "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW), citing several reports.
A few days ago, Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Russian Human Rights Council, confirmed to the Russian state agency RIA that the prisoners recruited for the Wagner group will be pardoned before they leave the prisons.
The Russian penal code allows only Putin to issue pardons.
However, these are subject to the strictest secrecy, according to the ISW.
According to estimates from the USA, the Wagner group in Ukraine counts around 40,000 prisoners among their 50,000 mercenaries.
Last but not least, they are deployed in the contested region around the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
They are all said to have been offered freedom after six months in the Ukraine war.
In addition, 100,000 rubles were promised.
Putin and Wagner boss Prigozhin send Russian prisoners to the front
The goal of the Russian president is clear for the ISW: Putin wants to further promote the Wagner group and legitimize their recruiting practices.
According to a report in
Der Spiegel
, the Wagner group has been sending wave after wave of former prison inmates to the front for weeks, whose bodies are often left lying on the fields.
Wagner's untrained criminals would be sent to the front lines to act as cannon fodder, the news magazine writes.
When alleged photos of the corpses of dozens of "Wagner" fighters killed off Bakhmut were said to be circulating on the battlefield recently, Prigozhin was
asked about his "responsibility" , according to the
FAZ .
He described the area around Bakhmut and Soledar as a "unified defense system" and called the "icing on the cake" the "system of tunnels of Soledar and Bakhmut, in fact a network of underground cities".
Soledar and Bachmut: What Wagner boss Prigozchin could be about in the conquest
But why is Wagner boss Prigoschin so obsessed with Soledar and Bachmut?
It is possible that Prigozhin's economic interests are in the foreground.
According to the FAZ
, the Wagner group had
also demonstrated a combination of war and raw material interests in other locations, such as in Syria and other African countries.
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A spokesman for the US White House is also convinced that Prigozhin's "obsession" with conquering Bakhmut has economic motives.
In return for assignments worldwide, the Wagner Group secures raw material deposits, such as oil in Syria or wood in Central Africa.
However, at least when it comes to Soledar, Prigozhin denies that he is interested in salt.
