This fashionable building has been used as the headquarters of the Wagner Group. Now the glass building in St. Petersburg is being taken over by Putin. In the last few days, FSB employees have been cleaning the building for evidence against the Wagner Group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. He is the man behind the military march against Moscow nine days ago. The PMC Wagner Center now stands without the logos and signs of the Wagner Group in St. Petersburg. Photo: Reuters According to the Washington Post, the FSB has also visited Prigozhin’s media house on the other side of town. There they will have confiscated PCs and servers. The media house will most likely get a new owner. Putin is probably looking for someone who was not heading towards Moscow with tens of thousands of soldiers, ready to depose the military leadership in the country. There is now a witch hunt going on inside Russia, explains Tormod Heier, who is professor of military strategy at the Norwegian Staff School. – Putin is trying to find out who stood with his back and defended him when Wagner rebelled; who was on the fence; and who supported the rebellion, says Heier. The void left by Wagner It is no well-hidden secret that the Wagner group has been important to Putin’s war in Ukraine. Nor was it ever meant to be. Now many are wondering how their absence will affect Russia’s ability to fight in Ukraine? The high-profile politician and ex-officer Andrej Kartapolov claims to the state-run Russian media that it will not affect Russia in any way. He also claims that there is no need for a new wave of military mobilization in Russia. Tormod Heier does not think the Wagner group’s absence will affect the war in Ukraine as it currently stands. Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKAKN / news Tormod Heier believes that the message to Kartapolov is primarily about his wanting to link himself closely to the Putin regime so that there is no doubt about where his loyalty lies. At the same time, he wants to reassure large sections of the Russian population. – He tries to de-dramatize the whole thing by saying that Putin and the Russian state apparatus have full control over the war, says Heier. Wagner’s influence The Wagner group has been an important contributor to Putin and his desire to achieve influence around the world. They have helped authoritarian regimes in Africa come to power in countries such as Sudan, Mali, Libya and the Central African Republic. They have also been an important supporter of Syria’s president and dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Some now suspect that Wagner is in the process of establishing himself in Burkina Faso, including the president of Ghana. The photo shows supporters of captain Ibrahim Traore with a Russian flag in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Photo: AP Through this work, Prigozhin has earned large amounts of money. Most of it has been booked in his company, Concord, writes the Washington Post. All this has made Prigozhin a strong player in the Russian power apparatus. – Wagner has helped to maintain Russian influence in Africa and the Middle East at the same time as they have gained control over important minerals and natural resources which they have taken home to Russia to fill up the treasury, says Heier. This is the Wagner Group * The Russian Wagner Group is a private military mercenary company. The group is based in southwestern Russia, near the annexed Crimean peninsula. * How many from the group have participated for Russia in the war in Ukraine is not known. Many of the group’s soldiers are recruited from Russian prisons. * The Wagner group has sent soldiers to a number of countries, including Syria, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique. * Mercenaries from Wagner are accused of war crimes in Syria, Libya and Mali. * The group was founded by the former GRU officer Dmitry Utkin and is led by the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin (62). * Prigozhin is sometimes referred to as Putin’s chef because he previously ran a catering company that delivered food to the Kremlin. * The EU and Great Britain have imposed sanctions on the Wagner group, and Prigozhin is wanted by the FBI. But it is the struggles the Wagner group has waged in Ukraine that have made them and their leader a household name around the world. The bigger and stronger Wagner became in Ukraine, the more inflamed and confrontational their relationship with the Russian military became. Finally, Prigozhin decided to leave Ukraine with the goal of going to Moscow to overthrow the military leadership in Russia, in what looked like the beginning of a coup d’état. The Wagner group has fought hard in Ukraine, and especially in Bakhmut, here with Russian and Wagner flags on top of a building in the city. Photo: AP 40 miles from the capital, Wagner turned around and an agreement between the group and Putin was concluded. The images from the glass building in St. Petersburg show that Putin’s work to take control of the monster he helped create is underway. At the same time, Wagner is out of Ukraine. What now? Wagner’s future Wagner leaves a void consisting of 15,000-20,000 of Russia’s most experienced warriors. Nevertheless, Heier believes that it is too early to say anything about what effect it will have on the war in Ukraine. Especially the way it looks now. But if the Russians are exposed to a surprise attack that they did not expect, or if they are to go on a counter-offensive, then the need for the special expertise of Wagner soldiers will be great. Especially if battles are fought in difficult places such as in cities, villages and densely populated areas. – Today, missing Wagner has a more psychological character. Force commanders are missing out on soldiers with combat experience, who provide a completely different calm and competence than fresh soldiers, says Heier. The high-profile Wagner leader has not given any signs of life since last week. Photo: TELEGRAM He still believes that Wagner has a future in Russia despite the uprising. They are sitting on expertise that Russia needs. First and foremost, a strong department spirit and warrior culture that they can use in regions like Africa and the Middle East to preserve Russian influence. But also their technology center which they created last year at the headquarters in St. Petersburg. The same building that Putin is now cleaning for traces of Wagner. – Wagner has a cyber expertise that contributes to influence operations of western civil society. They contribute to discord and fragmentation within the West, says Heier. The traces of the Wagner group are collected and wiped away at the same time. Photo: Reuters This could lead to social unrest and reduce political governance in the West. – Russia needs to weaken a West that supplies Ukraine with weapons and money year after year. Wagner contributes to that from its technology center and with its cyber expertise, explains Heier. Therefore, the point of Putin is to gain political control over the Wagner group and preserve their capacity. – Putin will probably punish those who organized and led the uprising. But the vast majority of soldiers must be taken care of and channeled under stronger political control for Putin, so that he lets go of these humiliating rebels, says Heier.
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Claims the Wagner Group’s absence in Ukraine will not affect its ability to fight – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
