Is the Russian mercenary group Wagner recruiting new fighters for the Ukraine war in Serbia?
What is certain is that Serbian volunteers will take part.
BELGRADE – Already after the Russian attack on February 24, 2022, murals celebrating the Wagner group appeared in the Serbian capital of Belgrade.
Is Wagner now recruiting Serbian volunteers for the war in Ukraine?
Videos circulating on social media seem to prove this.
They show Serbian fighters in Russian units in Ukraine.
They mostly talk in Serbian about their education and their motives for taking part in the Ukraine war.
The assumption that Wagner is now also recruiting in Serbia is reasonable.
But experts don't believe it.
"Of course there are radical pro-Russian circles in Serbia, from which Wagner could recruit at most a few hundred mercenaries," Maxim Samorukov from the US think tank "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" told the
Tagesspiegel
.
From a military point of view, however, this makes little sense.
He cites the increased transport costs to Ukraine and the lack of structures compared to recruitment in Russia as reasons.
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A member of the private Russian military company Wagner on a street of Soledar in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
© SNA/Imago
Advertisement by the Wagner Group in Serbia for the Ukraine war probably a PR stunt
Instead, in his opinion, it is probably a PR stunt by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.
"For Prigozhin, the whole thing is primarily a PR stunt to demonstrate Wagner's international political influence to the Kremlin," says Samorukov.
"See what we can do with reputation alone and how we can destabilize the situation."
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
The Wagner boss is primarily concerned with reputation and thus money.
The mercenary group still has the status of a semi-legal organization in Russia.
With a PR campaign like the one in Serbia, Prigozhin hopes to gain access to state military funds.
(cas/dpa)
Rubric list image: © SNA/Imago
