History – The origin of Wagner, the group of Russian mercenaries featured in Bakhmut

In days when the battle of Bakhmut has become one of the fundamental episodes of the war in Ukraine, the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary army that has claimed the success of encircling this Ukrainian city and has been leading months being the spearhead of Russia in the conflict.

At the command of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner has become one of the most active voices when it comes to requesting more material and men from the war front, to the point that this group is more admired by Russian ultranationalists than the regular troops deployed on the ground. .

Prigozhin, a man close to the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the most visible face of this organization that has been causing so much talk since the start of the war in Ukraine, but which has been acting in various conflicts on the planet defending Russian interests. since 2014. However, beyond its leader, the unknowns surrounding this group are numerous.

The annexation of Crimea, the origin of Wagner

It is difficult to establish an exact date of creation of this paramilitary organization, since it has never been established as a company on paper, but its first interventions are in March 2014. By those days, the Euromaidan had already taken place in Ukraine, which he deposed pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and the Ukrainian region of Crimea had proposed holding a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

Wagner was among the troops that invaded the Crimean peninsula and occupied the region after the referendum, considered illegal by the international community, favored confirming the annexation to Russia. His next place of action was the Donbass, in favor of logistical, military and arms support to the separatist pro-Russian forces in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

In these first bars of existence, Wagner barely had a few hundred members, the majority coming from the extinct Slavic Corps. Its members were part of military circles linked to Russian ultra-nationalism and the extreme right of that country. In fact, its name is believed to be in honor of Richard Wagner, the famous German composer, as he was Adolf Hitler’s favorite artist.

The Syrian war: testing ground and growing popularity

However, his action was not limited to a conflict. In 2015, the Wagner group decided to enter the Syrian civil war in favor of the interests of the Russian Army and the Bashar Al-Assad regime. In this country, Wagner was able to demonstrate his military capacity in successful operations against the Islamic State and the Syrian rebels. Actions that served to strengthen the Syrian regime at a time when it was about to fall and that, of course, multiplied the fame of this organization.

These mercenaries were part, for example, of the retaking of the city of Palmyra from the Islamic State, one of the most important moments in the Syrian civil conflict. However, during these operations, Wagner’s fighters were protagonists for looting entire towns, torturing and extrajudicially executing people, and committing a multitude of human rights violations and war crimes.

His status makes these situations difficult to penalize and is extremely beneficial for Moscow. Wagner does not exist on paper. It is not an incorporated private security company and is not part of the Russian Army, which is run by the Kremlin. However, although Russian law dictates that any type of mercenary organization will be prosecuted, it gives the go-ahead for its existence and allows its financing.

Expansion into Africa and control of resources

After Syria, Wagner’s next step was to penetrate the various conflicts that exist in Africa and take advantage of their resources. Several States decided to contract his services after his positive work defending Al-Assad and allowed these mercenaries to operate in their territories.

In most cases, the payments were not made with money, but with the exploitation of mining or energy resources, which allowed Wagner to enrich himself in a simple, fast and easy way to evade any type of international control.

In Africa, Wagner has seen combat in conflicts in Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Central African Republic and Mozambique. Of them, he only had a major failure when it came to fighting the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique. A ruling that was enough for the Government of Maputo.

Many of these conflicts have been entrenched for decades in these countries and are very profitable for the group.

In addition, it has carried out other types of operations, such as the extraction of mineral resources, training and recruitment of troops, military advice, arms sales or protection of political leaders in at least twenty other nations. He especially calls attention to his temporary participation in Venezuela, when at the beginning of 2019 he landed in this South American country with the aim of protecting President Nicolás Maduro during the crisis derived from the self-proclamation of opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Although his presence was short.

In addition, his tour in Africa takes place in nations with a historical French influence. Wagner has known how to capitalize on the anti-colonial and anti-French sentiment of many of these countries, such as the Central African Republic, to spread Russian popularity and directly influence the politicians who most interest the Kremlin to govern. An issue that has endangered French military operations in regions such as the Sahel, where Paris has been forced to leave nations like Mali.

Concentration in the Ukrainian war

For all these years of combat experience Wagner has become central to Russia in the Ukrainian war. Once Moscow began the invasion of its neighbor, this military group began to withdraw its soldiers from various countries to take them to the Ukrainian front and serve as support for the Russian regular army.

This situation has been especially emphasized after Russia failed to achieve initial military objectives such as the seizure of kyiv, and the conflict became stalemate. In addition to previous combat experience, Wagner’s presence on the most violent fronts, such as Bakhmut, allows Moscow not to count his casualties as its own. Something important when in this war there are already thousands.