“Only 10 percent survive”
Russian prisoners serve as cannon fodder for Wagner troops
According to a new report, only a fraction of the prisoners recruited for military service by the Wagner group survive. That doesn’t bother Putin’s confidante Prigozhin.
Published: 9 minutes ago
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Wagner boss Prigozhin releases the first prisoners who have been recruited by the Wagner group. It is not known where the recordings were made.
Sven ZieglerEditor News
The notorious Wagner group made a name for itself again in the Ukraine war. The private army of Yevgeny Prigozhin (61), who is closely linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin (70), is trying with all brutality to establish dominance in the region around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar.
The brutal mercenary army also relies on prisoners in the fight for Soledar and Bachmut. Prigozhin himself promised the prisoners a pardon if they fought in Ukraine for a certain period of time. Even rapists and murderers can fight their way to freedom.
As the Russian information channel “VChK-OGPU” reports, citing unspecified sources, only ten percent of the Russian prisoners fighting in the Donbass survive. «Out of 270 prisoners in one of the groups, 30 fighters are still alive. That’s about the average – ten percent survive,” the source is quoted as saying.
Prigozhin stages himself
The channel also released a video purporting to show the graves of the dead. However, the authenticity of the video cannot be verified.
Meanwhile, Wagner boss Prigoschin published a new video on his channel. In it he staged himself with surviving prisoners whom he personally released from military service. “Each of you went through what only your great-grandfathers experienced before you in the war,” says Prigozhin in the video.
Prigozhin recalls that some of the prisoners had reservations about going to war. “But look at you now,” he spreads his propaganda. “You have mined money, medals and adrenaline.” He doesn’t even mention the many deaths in the ranks of the mercenaries.
Reports of “gigantic” losses
Before the pardon, he asks the prisoners: «I used your criminal energy to defeat the Ukrainians. Now we don’t need your criminal energy anymore. From now on you should be good people.” Anyone who wants to join the Wagner soldiers in the future is “welcome,” said Prigoshin.
Just a few days ago, a news portal published interrogation protocols of prison recruits who ended up in Ukrainian captivity. In it, the horrible conditions within the mercenary troop became public.
One of the inmates reported that the prison recruits were divided into different groups. Rapists and pedophiles, for example, are not divided up, but deliberately grouped together in their own units. The losses are “gigantic”.