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Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozchin is said to have already recruited around 30,000 men from Russian prisons.
Oleg B.* knew what he wanted: freedom. Out of the Russian prison he was in for drug offenses. When people from the Wagner group visited his penal colony to recruit recruits, they promised a deal: Anyone who survives six months will be granted amnesty. B agreed.
After completing his recruit training in occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, he was only deployed for a month, spending two days in the first line of trenches. Shortly before Christmas he was captured by Ukrainians.
The daily newspaper “Die Welt” met Oleg B. in a prisoner of war camp in western Ukraine. He had been informed in advance that journalists would be visiting him and decided to speak to them about the Wagner troupe and his time during the war.
Russian private army made up of prison inmates
B. fought for the mercenary force of Yevgeny Prigozhin (61). Even before Russia attacked Ukraine, the private army had been fighting in Russian interests abroad for years: in Syria, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Libya, Venezuela, Mozambique and Mali – without their losses being included in official statistics. In addition, Wagner has exclusive access to heavy equipment from state resources.
In the war against Ukraine, Wagner mercenaries were quickly sent to the front lines. The Wagner boss was soon to expand his troops and even received a license to recruit from Russian prisons: murderers, thieves, fraudsters, thugs or drug dealers – including Oleg B. Everyone is allowed to go into battle for Wagner.
The Geneva Convention for the Protection of Wounded and Sick Military Personnel does not apply to the Wagner mercenaries, but only to soldiers of regular armies.
Wagner mercenaries as cannon fodder
In the Ukraine he saw nothing but Wagner fighters, says B. From his training in eastern Ukraine, the logistics in the background to the front: nothing but Wagner fighters, no regular soldiers, B reports. Because Wagner is there to to pave the way for the regular army, he says.
For this purpose, Prigozhin recruited around 30,000 men from Russian prisons. According to Ukrainian estimates, 80 percent have already been killed, wounded or captured in Ukraine. B. says that he is probably the only survivor from his 50-strong group: “We knew that we were meat and agreed to that.” (hey)
* Name changed