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Played an important role for Russia in taking the small town of Soledar: The mercenaries of the Wagner Group with their boss Yevgeny Prigoschin (4th from left).
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine War, the Russian Wagner Group has repeatedly been the subject of talks. With hardly imaginable brutality she fights in Ukraine on the side of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin (70).
Wagner’s mercenaries were also involved in the battle for the Ukrainian town of Soledar and played a decisive role in the capture of the small town by Russia. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin (61) celebrated his team’s “victory” with a photo showing him in Europe’s largest salt mine in Soledar.
In addition, Prigozhin expressly pointed out that “apart from Wagner’s fighters, no other units took part in the attack on Soledar”. It is not possible to verify whether the photo is real or posed.
More and more fighters from Russia’s penal colonies
For a long time, little or nothing was known about the conditions within the Wagner group. Meanwhile, more and more information is leaking out. It is already known that the mercenaries are recruiting more and more fighters from Russian penal colonies.
The independent Russian news portal “We can explain it” has now published interrogation protocols of captured prison recruits, according to a report by the “Tagesspiegel”. Among other things, a certain Sergei Vereshchagin has his say. He is a convicted double murderer who fought for Wagner on the front lines in Soledar.
He was transferred there last December after an extremely short training session on a Kalashnikov. The recruits were told early on what would happen if they got the wrong idea. “We were told that if we retreat, we’re finished,” says Vereshchagin. He always followed the order because he knew “that they would kill me otherwise”.
“Who the hell are you?”
Another prison recruit named in the logs is Alexander Drozdov. His descriptions have it all. He and his unit are said to have come under fire from the Russian army during a fight – unintentionally. According to Drozdov, recruited prisoners do not wear Wagner uniforms and are otherwise not recognizable as mercenaries.
That’s why there was confusion on the battlefield. “We were ordered to attack, but the whole time we were being fired upon by the Russians. We shouted: ‘We are Russians, we are Russians’. And they said: ‘Who the hell are you?’».
Drozdov’s remarks also allow a look at the organizational structure of the Wagner Group. Thus, the prison recruits would be divided into different groups. Rapists and pedophiles are not divided up, but deliberately grouped together in their own units. There are also stormtroopers, the so-called “Rexes”. According to Drozdov, these are “completely crazy” because “they are all junkies.”
Losses are “gigantic”
Russia’s prisons are full of inmates serving time for drug-related crimes. No wonder they also make up a large proportion of Wagner recruits. Some of them, for example those suffering from HIV, have to wear a red band as a distinguishing feature.
All in all, the conditions for Wagner mercenaries are anything but rosy. According to Drozdov, the losses at the front are “gigantic”. In addition, recruits who disregard marching orders would be shot by the commanders without hesitation. (ced)