According to recently downgraded US intelligence, the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner has gained greater control and is hiring prisoners, some of whom have major medical issues, to augment Moscow’s ailing military.
According to a senior US official, the group just received arms from North Korea, a sign of its expanding involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Additionally, the US thinks Wagner may be embroiled in a struggle for influence with the Russian military itself.
According to John Kirby, the National Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator, certain Russian military officials are truly under Wagner’s authority. We can fairly easily see that Wagner is establishing itself as a competing power centre to the Russian military and other ministries.
The Wagner group’s disclosures surfaced a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s historic trip to Washington, when he hailed the US for its military support and emphasised the need for more to thwart Russian advances.
In the 10-month struggle, Wagner has become a crucial participant. The squad is frequently referred to as President Vladimir Putin’s undercover forces. Since its founding in 2014, it has increased its global influence and has been charged with war crimes in Africa, Syria, and the Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the US imposed fresh limitations on Wagner’s ability to export technology.
According to Kirby, the US estimates that Wagner presently has 50,000 men deployed inside Ukraine, 40,000 of whom may be inmates recruited from Russian jails. He said that to finance its operations in Ukraine, the organisation was spending $100 million each month.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the organization’s founder, has even visited Russian jails to personally solicit inmates to join the war as soldiers. According to Kirby, several of them have “severe medical issues.”
“It appears that Mr. Prigozhin is content to just toss Russian carcasses into Bakhmut’s meat grinder. We estimate that 90% of the 1,000 Wagner warriors who were slain in the fighting in the most recent weeks were in reality prisoners, Kirby said.
Prigozhin, formerly known as “Putin’s chef,” already has a tight relationship with the Russian leader. However, Kirby claimed he was making an effort to fortify such ties by enlisting mercenaries to support Russian forces.
It all depends on how well-liked and respected he is at the Kremlin, according to Mr. Putin, he said. In fact, we would even claim that his impact is growing.
According to Kirby, Wagner this month got a shipment of infantry rockets and missiles from North Korea, showing that Russia and its military allies are still looking for methods to get through export restrictions and Western sanctions.
The equipment was purchased by Wagner, not by the Russian government. Although the US believes it won’t have a substantial impact on the battlefield in Ukraine, it did speculate that North Korea might be preparing to transfer more weapons.