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The Wagner Group rebellion or coup attempt which started on June 23 and lasted only two days, ended on June 24 2023, had a worldwide impact. Although there is not much detailed information about the Wagner Group whose names were frequently heard especially after their attempted coup in Russia, in this article we will try to tell you about that group which is a paramilitary mercenary team and facts about them.
We must state from the beginning that; If you do not live in a country governed by democracy, it is not good for you to always tell the truth. Especially if you are in a country governed by autocracy like Russia, sometimes speaking the truth out loud can cause bad things to happen to you. In this regard, we can say that what happened to the group was partly a result of their reaction to the poor quality of the Chinese-made weapons they had and partly a result of their rebellion against Defense Minister Shoigu. By the way, let us note that months after these events, Putin dismissed Defense Minister Shoigu also.
What is Wagner Group?
In countries where democracy is not strong enough and there are relatively authoritarian regimes, there are some paramilitary organizations established to support the current government. Although the word “paramilitary” means semi-military in ancient Greek, today it is used to describe private military organizations that consist of mercenaries, aim to support the current government and have an illegal structure. In this context, the Wagner Group is a private military organization in Russia that is in close relations with Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs. At the same time, Wagner soldiers are a kind of private mercenary army used by the Russian administration for its special military operations and occupations in many parts of the world.
Even it is said to have been founded by former Soviet soldier Lieutenant Colonel Dmitri Utkin, it has been stated that the actual founding leader of the Wagner Group was Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman very close to Putin that period of time.
Wagner Group was founded in 2010. However, it made its name known in the war called the Donbass War which started in Ukraine in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. After these events, the name Wagner Group and Yevgeny Prigozhin became known almost all over the world. The number of soldiers which did not reach five thousand at that time, approached 50 thousand by 2023, according to some researchers. The Wagners which later emerged in the Syrian civil war in 2015 and the Libyan civil war in 2018, acted in the interests of Russia and Putin in the operations they carried out in these countries. Apart from these countries, the Wagner soldiers which acts in line with Russia’s interests in Africa, made also critical contributions to the war launched by Russia to invade Ukraine in 2022.
Reasons for Wagner Rebellion?
In the later stages of Russia’s invasion war against Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022, the Wagner Group gained a lot of success in the regions that the Russian Army had difficulty in capturing. In line with that, the fact that Wagner soldiers appeared to be more successful than the Russian army caused the Russian Ministry of Defence to be the target of criticism. Following this, the tension between them increased when Wagner leader Prigozhin targeted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as the source of the Russian military’s failures in a video recorded in May 2023. After the video in which he said that the Russian army did not send weapons and support to the Group and left Russian soldiers to die on the front, the ties between Yevgeny Prigozhin and Sergei Shoigu were broken thoroughly.
Following the ongoing tensions and Prigozhin’s statements, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that all special military groups, including Wagner, will be tied with the Russian general army and placed under the command of Defence Minister Shoigu. After this order, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that they will not comply with this decision and that the Russian Ministry of Defence cannot manage the Russian army well. Afterwards, tension increased and Prigozhin announced that the Russian Ministry of Defence launched a missile attack on the Wagner Group on June 23 and called for a rebellion by all Wagners’ soldiers. According to Prigozhin, two thousand Wagner soldiers were killed in this missile attack which was conducted by Sergei Shoigu’s Russian Army.
As a result of these events, Wagner’s rebellion had begun and in a short time Wagner Group captured the Russian city of Rostov. Then, Prigozhin published a video saying he rebelled against Putin and that Russia would soon have a new president.
Who is Wagner’s Leader?
Following these events, Putin announced that Prigozhin, the founder and leader of the Wagner Group, was committing treason and that all precautions were being taken about that topic. Thereupon, the group announced that they would march on Moscow. These events, which developed rapidly in such a short time, surprised the whole world public opinion. Afterwards, Belarusian leader Lukashenko stepped in. Accordingly, the Belarusian leader stated that he was mediating between Putin and Wagner and that Wagner would return to his barracks to avoid bloodshed. Then, in line with that statement, Russian leader Vladimir Putin also announced that Prigozhin will live in Belarus from now on and that no Wagner soldiers will be punished for rebellion.
After rebellion attempt, the whole world began to wait with curiosity for Prigozhin’s future and fate. In a video he published in August, months after these events, he stated that he was on duty in Africa for the best interests of the Russian state. In fact, with this video, he was informing the whole world that he was not dead. Days after this video, shocking news came to international news agencies on August 23, 2023. A military plane with Wagner Group’s founding leader Yevgeni Prigozhin and Wagner’s senior commanders crashed near Moscow. At that moment, everyone remembered the words that Putin had recently given in a private interview, in which he stated that he could forgive everything, but he would never forgive betrayal. Hours after the plane crashed, Russia news agencies announced to the world that Prigozhin was identified and that he was among those killed on the plane.
Is Prigozhin Really Dead?
Since Russia is an authoritarian regime, the reliability of the information it provides is a question mark in the world public opinion. Accordingly, it has become a matter of curiosity whether Prigozhin is really dead or not. According to some, the Wagner leader made an agreement with Putin and continues his life in another country with a different identity. According to some others, Prigozhin placed his own stunt doubles on some of the several planes that always take off at the same time and the person who died in the plane crash on August 23 was one of his similar doubles. In fact, a mysterious woman who attended the funeral of the founder of the Wagner Group, which was held quietly and hidden from the public, was the subject of news in this concept.
This woman was the wife of one of Prigozhin’s stunt doubles, and her attendance at the funeral strengthened the claims that he was not actually dead.
On the other hand, another question mark is a video that appeared right after Prigozhin’s plane crashed. In the video detailed below, he states that he is not dead, that he is alive and continues to work for Russian interests in Africa. However, as it was later understood, he shot this video before August 23, 2023, when his plane crashed, and since there was no news from him at that time, he published it as a response to the news that Prigozhin died.
What Next for Wagner Group?
Since it was previously prohibited to establish private military companies in Russia, the headquarters of the Group was outside Russia. However, the Wagner group was registered and made official in June 2023. The group, which became headquartered in Saint Petersburg, was declared a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom in September 2023. According to this announcement, being a member of Wagner and providing financial aid to the them or supporting any of its activities is an international crime.
On the other hand, they laid down its heavy weapons and its activities were stopped after the law that caused it to rebel and which included the affiliation of special military units in Russia to the Ministry of Defence. In this context, it is obvious that what the Wagners will do next depends on Vladimir Putin and the Ministry of Defence. It is clear that; The group is much weaker today than it was months ago.
At this point, the answer to the question of whether the Wagner Group is still an international threat is not clear. Depending on the decisions taken by the Russian Ministry of Defence about the Wagner military organization, it will become clear over time whether they will continue to be a threat for the West or whether they will melt into the Russian army.
