Three billboards in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg shine a light on what was once one of Russia’s most shadowy organizations, the private military contractor Wagner.
“Motherland, Honor, Blood, Courage. WAGNER,” reads one of the posters.
Another, which locals say first appeared on the outskirts of the country’s fourth-largest city in early July, depicts three men in military uniform next to the words “Wagner2022.org.”
The billboards, which can be seen in several Russian cities, are part of Wagner’s efforts to recruit fighters to join her ranks in Ukraine.
They also serve as evidence of the transformation the group has undergone since Moscow began its invasion more than five months ago, from a secretive mercenary organization shrouded in mystery to an increasingly public expansion of Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine.
“They seem to have decided that they will no longer try to hide their existence. By now everyone knows who they are,” said Denis Korotkov, a former Nova Gazeta journalist and longtime Wagner watcher.
Wagner was created in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The US and others say it is funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman closely linked to Vladimir Putin, who is under Western sanctions. Prigogine denies any ties to the group.
Vladimir Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin at a factory in St. Petersburg in 2010. Photo: Alexey Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images
Since then, the group has played an important role, fighting alongside the Russian military in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and has been spotted in several African nations – places where Russia has strategic and economic interests. He has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights violations.
Despite its global reach, much of the group’s inner workings remain secret to the outside world.
On paper, it does not exist, with no company registration, tax returns or organizational chart. Russia’s top leadership, including Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly denied any ties between Wagner and the state.
Private military companies are officially banned in Russia, and the semi-legal framework in which the mercenaries operate also means that family members of deceased Wagner operatives have often been forced to remain silent when seeking information about their loved ones.
And while Wagner gradually embarked on a PR campaign, with companies linked to Prigogine funding propaganda films that glorified the deeds of “military instructors” in Africa, any mention of the group remained largely taboo in the public sphere. Journalists like Korotkov who investigate the group have been harassed for their work.
Still from “The Tourist”, a propaganda film by the Wagner group. Photo: YouTube
However, Russia’s war in Ukraine brought the group out of obscurity.
In late March, British intelligence claimed that around 1,000 Wagner mercenaries had gone to Ukraine. The group’s role in the war appears to have grown significantly since Moscow shifted its efforts to the east following its failure to capture the capital, Kyiv.
Wagner is believed to have played a central role in the capture of Popasna in May and Lisichansk in June, two strategically important cities that Russia largely razed to the ground during its takeover of eastern Luhansk Oblast. On Wednesday, British intelligence said Wagner played a role in the takeover of the giant Vuhlehirsk power plant in eastern Ukraine.
As Wagner’s role in Ukraine grew, so did his public image at home.
Russian and Rwandan security forces in Bangui in the Central African Republic in December 2020. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
In May, Wagner received what appeared to be his first recognition in state news when a reporter alluded to him on a national broadcast by saying the military had its “own orchestra” in Ukraine.
Wagner is often referred to by its supporters and members as “the orchestra”, a reference to the German composer Richard Wagner. The group’s alleged founder, Dmitry Utkin, is linked to the far right and is believed to have named it after Hitler’s favorite composer.
UK intelligence also suggests that Prigozhin, who was photographed in eastern Ukraine in April, was recently made a Hero of the Russian Federation in recognition of the group’s role in the invasion.
Last week, Wagner received its biggest recognition yet when Komsomolskaya Pravda, the country’s most widely read tabloid, ran a front-page story about the group’s storming of the Vukhlehirsk plant.
Not so long ago, Russian officials (until Putin) and state media pretended that Wagner had nothing to do with the Russian state, or even that it did not exist at all
Today a report on the group storming 🇺🇦’s second largest power plant is on the front page of 🇷🇺’s top tabloid pic.twitter.com/KTX6Ye0wMm
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) July 29, 2022
Wagner publicly boasted of his involvement in the war with a message on his website saying: “They have already liberated Popasna, join us to liberate all of Donbass! Embark on your first battle campaign with living legends of the industry!”
When the Guardian contacted the email address listed on Wagner’s website, a person claiming to represent the group said it had launched its recruitment campaign because “we saw that the support for our company was enormous and there were many willing to join’.
“But nothing changes, Wagner is not and never was, it’s just a legend. There are only Robin Hoods who protect the poor who are oppressed by the rich,” the person added in an email exchange that was typical of Wagner’s brazen public stance.
The website has since been taken down by Hostinger, the Lithuania-based internet domain provider that hosted it. A Hostinger representative said it took action when it discovered the site was “masking” with fake identities, VPNs and crypto payments.
Wagner also appears to have set up regional recruiting centers in more than 20 cities, posting recruiters’ phone numbers on popular social media channels associated with the group.
The ads said Wagner was offering soldiers more than 240,000 rubles (£3,370) a month, several times the usual wages of ordinary soldiers.
The Guardian contacted several of the recruiters whose numbers were listed. Some used the mercenary group’s symbols as profile pictures on WhatsApp and Telegram, and none denied their connection to Wagner.
Asked about Wagner’s mobilization efforts, a recruiter from the Nizhny Novgorod region in central Russia, who declined to be named, sent a list of documents needed to join that included a passport from any country that was “not NATO or Ukraine.” and several medical certificates.
The recruiter also sent a list of items to bring after being accepted by Wagner, ranging from shower gel to tourniquets and other medical equipment.
“See you in Molkino,” the message concluded, referring to the city in Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast where Wagner is believed to be headquartered near a major defense ministry base.
Military analysts say Russia’s reliance on groups like Wagner shows the extent to which the country’s regular army, which has lost up to a third of its combat personnel, is struggling to achieve its goals in Ukraine.
“Wagner’s private military contractors reportedly played a critical role in the fighting. Indeed, it is fair to ask whether some of Wagner’s units … are actually more elite and capable than ordinary Russian motorized rifle units,” wrote Michael Koffman and Rob Lee, two leading experts on the Russian military, in a recent briefing for the website War on the Rocks.
The war in Ukraine and Russia’s military failures also seem to have accelerated Wagner’s cooperation with the defense ministry. Marat Gabidulin, Wagner’s former commander, told the Guardian in an earlier interview that his troops worked closely with the Russian Ministry of Defense when fighting in Syria.
These relations seem to have deepened since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to an investigation by the independent publication Meduza, the Russian Ministry of Defense has largely taken control of the networks that Wagner used to recruit new soldiers.
A mural in Belgrade praising the Wagner Group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Photo: Pierre Crome/Getty Images
Korotkov, the Wagner expert, said it was difficult to distinguish between soldiers fighting for Wagner and those in the regular army.
“The Ministry of Defense largely co-opted Wagner and now it looks more like one coordinated group,” Korotkov said, adding that such cooperation made it difficult to estimate the number of Wagner soldiers in Ukraine.
And while Wagner’s role in the invasion made the group mainstream, some say its latest recruiting push threatens to lower its overall military standards.
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According to the investigative news outlet iStories, Wagner resorted to recruiting prisoners and offering high wages and potential amnesties for six months of service.
“Wagner is lowering its recruitment standards and hiring prisoners and blacklisted individuals, potentially impacting Russia’s military effectiveness,” the UK Ministry of Defense said at an intelligence briefing last week.
“Even before the conflict, less than 30 percent of the soldiers in Wagner were true professionals,” said Gabidulin, Wagner’s former commanding officer. “Now the group will consist mostly of a bunch of amateurs… The circus that is Russia continues.”
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