The Wagner file obtained by Kalla fakta shows how mercenaries in the infamous Wagner group pose as influencers in social media. It’s about showing off a certain lifestyle, according to senior intelligence analyst Joseph Jones. – The pictures are there to attract others to join Wagner, he tells Kalla fakta. The Wagner group has rules that say the mercenaries’ social media accounts must be deleted. But despite that, many publish pictures where they pose with weapons and show off their lifestyle. They show, for example, a mercenary who was with the Wagner group in Syria and in a militia in eastern Ukraine. – He is a commander in a subgroup of Wagner called the Carpathians. He is a Cossack and comes from the Rostov-on-Don area, says Jospeh Jones. Become a type of influencer According to Joseph Jones, some Wagner soldiers in this way become a type of influencer who can motivate new recruits to enlist. In some cases from the Russian army. – The average mercenary would think this looks cool. That I want to be the person who has that specific weapon. It is there to attract others to join the Wagner group, says Joseph Jones. Power struggle with the military On the Wagner group’s recruitment page on Telegram, you can see how the images have an effect. People who claim to be fighting for the Russian military ask there if they can join Wagner. The answer is that in that case they first need to leave the Russian military. The tug of war for recruits is part of the power struggle between the Wagner group and the Russian military. Cold facts will continuously publish material from the Wagner file that the editors have gained access to via the company Paliscope. Here you can see all parts that have been published so far.
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Here the Wagner soldiers break the internal rules: “Attracting others”
