Outside Russia, the private paramilitary group continues to play on the fear it inspires, such as sending the European Parliament a hammer identical to the one used to kill one of its former recruits accused of having betrayed. In the martial Russia of 2022, Wagner still does not have a legal existence as a private military company, but is establishing itself more and more officially as a recourse and a full-fledged player in the field of defence.
From our correspondent,
First official appearance on Russian television for “ the most secret military group in the world according to the commentary, it was this Thursday, December 1 on Russia Today: a new stage in the passage of the Wagner group from shadow to light.
This summer, the “orchestra” as it is also called, had already taken a first step into the “semi-public” Russian media space. On the Telegram channels of the military correspondents of the official media, where everyone tells the backstage of their reports, we could already read ” Follow me with the musicians (nickname given to themselves by these fighters).
Thursday, December 1, no less than three minutes were broadcast on the Russian small screen with a report on a training base “somewhere in southern Russia”. Here, no bloody hammer, nor convicts motivated by patriotism, salary or the desire to escape at all costs life behind Russian bars known to be very violent, but glamorous images of men certainly hooded and masked, but very fit and very well trained. The equipment (tanks, tents, mattresses, pharmacy, etc.) is brand new and complete. The fighters even have the choice between different hot meals in a sheltered canteen.
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It is up to the spectators, and in particular the families of those mobilized who often put their hands in their pockets to equip their relatives called to fight, to make the comparison themselves. The prisoners who are offered to fight in Ukraine could, it seems, already make a hard time of it. According to lawyer Jana Helmel, quoted by the media “Agentsvo” this Thursday, December 1, the Ministry of Defense would offer a salary four times lower than that of Wagner to go to the front in Ukraine. By presidential decree, the recruitment of convicts for the front has been legal in Russia since November, except those who have committed sexual crimes against minors, acts of treason, espionage or terrorism.
Brand new premises for new projects
At the new “Wagner Center”, opened almost a month ago in Saint Petersburg, there too, it is the group’s expertise in defense matters that the press officer Anna Zamareava highlights: ” The way we choose engineering projects, military research, is what we do most seriously. We organize sessions where people present their projects, or detail more concrete elements, for example, finished products like bulletproof vests, drones, various complex modern technologies, like the development of software for military equipment. We also work for the long term. When we make a deal, maybe it’s not here on these premises that it happens. But we provide support, financing, place private orders for the manufacture of certain products or the development of projects necessary for the needs of the army. All this mainly to increase the defense capacity of the country “.
These 44,000 square meters of offices, in a district 30 minutes by car from the city center, are presented by the smiling Anna Zamareava as “ cooler than Silicon Valley, in a Russian and patriotic version “. No partnership with universities, however, and many workspaces still empty in this building, which looks like the most classic and honorable company headquarters: two towers of glass and concrete elegantly connected, numerous elevators that still smell like new, and a breathtaking panoramic view from the 23rd floor over all of Saint-Petersburg.
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It’s impossible to meet engineers working on military-oriented projects, confidentiality requires, but you can meet young bloggers there. Here too, some of them are working on videos to motivate Russian soldiers in Ukraine. One of them gets up from his office and comes to show us this excerpt in which a babushka assures in particular: Don’t worry, everything will be fine. The devil is not as terrible as people like to say. Victory will be ours “. 100,000 views from the first day of broadcast, proudly assures the young man.
To the question, “Isn’t all this rather the responsibility of the state?” Anastasia Vasilevskaya, another press secretary at the Wagner Center replies: We are a private company so we can be more loyal and do everything, paperwork, paperwork, much faster than the government. With thetat, everything is still dragging. We make decisions faster, because we understand what we need here and now. We don’t have to call for tenders. We look at what a start-ups, and we consult our experts to find out if it is useful. While in the army they spend a lot of money for nothing “. The military, some of whom already have much to reproach the founder of Wagner for having recently supported Ramzan Kadyrov to obtain the departure of a general in September-, will appreciate.
Evgéni Prigojine on all fronts
In any case, Evgéni Prigojine’s activism in the military field has been particularly overflowing in recent months. Last October 19, “the boss” as his men say, announced that he was embarking on the construction of a line of fortifications supposed to keep Russia away from Ukrainian troops. But in the Belgorod region, 10 days ago, the so-called “Wagner line” was renamed and the army regained control.
Still, in the Russia of the “special operation”, the founder of Wagner plays a double blow. He makes himself useful to a power in search of a military victory at the start of winter, even if on the field of the very observed battle of Bakhmout for the Ukrainians, Artëmovsk for the Russians, Evgéni Prigojine ensures above all to seek at ” deplete Ukrainian forces more than bring down the city. In the medium term, in this deeply upset Russia where all “liberal” opposition has been muzzled, one of Vladimir Putin’s very first traveling companions is also laying down new milestones for the construction of his public image as “a man of the people against the elites”, and not only against the elites of the army.
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The installation of his center was one of the episodes of his confrontation with the mayor of Saint-Petersburg for whom the center was illegal. ” Everything is in order “, we assure in the teams, but Evgéni Prigojine continues with cheeky to target Alexandre Beglov. On his official Telegram channel, he thus selected last week the question of a media which wondered about the potential reasons for the absence of public appearance for two weeks of the first aedile of the “Venice of the North”:
-« Some believe this is due to your complaint against him to the prosecutor’s office. Others say he had anti-aging cosmetic surgery. What do you think ? »
-« I cannot confirm or deny this information. I think the rich have their own habits and quirks (…) Although I don’t quite understand why a grown man is so invested in his own rejuvenation, when his role is to run the city”
On the Wagner Center website, a slogan that clacks like a campaign poster proclaims: “ Today we break stereotypes, we know how to be the best. From now on, let’s build the future together “. The “boss” who has already tried to do politics and defends himself from wanting to do it again, is not on the premises. “ I am here or there, in the region, in Russia, or in the Donbass, but at work 7 days a week he wrote on his Telegram channel. Most often still invisible. Not quite gone from shadow to light yet.