1. Union of fascists with recidivists.
Roma was killed, but the people, the cadres that he put forward are still alive. One of them whom Roma left us as a keepsake is Putin's chef Prigozhin. He could not have gotten so close to Putin and Zolotov if Tsepov had not helped. As the saying goes, the person died, but his work lives on.
4. Forces of special machinations.
In general, as you understood, Putin's chef is a person with a rich biography. And in 2000-2001. she made another zigzag: Prigozhin left from under the roof of Misha Kutaissky and went over to Tsepov-Zolotov. And soon he completely fell into Putin's inner circle.
After this, the affairs of our hero went uphill. From a middle-class restaurateur, he turned into a supplier of ready-made meals for schools and military units for huge sums. But at some point even this seemed not enough. And somewhere in 2012, Prigozhin began to be attracted for a non-core (non-kitchen) business.
At first it was a project to clog the Internet with Putin's propaganda. With Prigozhin's money (ie from the budget), the famous troll factory in Olgino appeared in St. Petersburg, which then moved to 55 Savushkina, then to the Lakhta-2 business center, etc.
Petersburg, business center "Lakhta-2" on the street Optics, 4. Most of Putin's comments on social networks are written here.
In addition to this factory for writing comments, in 2014 there was also the "Federal News Agency" (FAN) - a group of sites that spread Putin's and GB-shny nonsense on the Internet under the guise of news. From the series: “The USA is in a panic over our new fighter. The Russophobes of the State Department strangled themselves with laces. " True, they overdid it, and in 2017 Google threw all FAN sites out of Google News, along with the archive for all the years. But Yandex News continues to give out this Prigogine garbage in batches.
And finally, since 2014, Prigozhin began to participate not only in informational wars, but also in real wars of the Putin regime - in eastern Ukraine, Wagner's PMC received the baptism of fire. And in the fall of 2015, she was transferred to Syria.
Moscow, 2016. The commanders of Wagner PMCs in the Kremlin. Judging by the Russian press, in Lugansk Utkin liked to go out wearing a Wehrmacht helmet. In the image that is. It's strange that he didn't wear it to the Kremlin. Still, a meeting with the Fuhrer.
The one to the left of Putin is Andrei Troshev ("Sedoy"), Utkin's deputy at the PMC. A former paratrooper, then he served in the SOBR. According to Russian media reports, in June 2017, he was found on the street in St. Petersburg in a state of "severe alcoholic intoxication" and taken to a hospital. I had 5 million rubles with me, some maps of Syria, papers for Wagner PMC. I almost drank the military secret, in short.
Another participant of the reception in the Kremlin is Ratibor, aka Alexander Kuznetsov. This is a major from the "Senezh" center in Solnechnogorsk ("sunflowers", special operations forces of the Ministry of Defense). In 2008, Major Ratibor sat for robbery and kidnapping. In 2013, he miraculously got out of prison and became a mercenary.
It is noteworthy that in the same place in Solnechnogorsk, where the "sunflowers" grow, the private security company "Stealth" is now based, about which Litvinenko once wrote. The private security company was established in the 1990s. jointly by the FSB and the Izmaylovo organized criminal group to commit contract killings - for hire and by order of the Motherland. Special forces fighters were involved in the private security company. The office was a living symbol of the merger of the FSB and the mafia - where one ended and another began, it was already impossible to determine.
The private security company "Stealth" was founded by FSB colonel Lutsenko (he still works there), and General Khokholkov ("Yeltsin Sudoplatov") was his curator in the 1990s. The general also covered the heroin trade, and the PSC was his help in the showdown. In short, the special operations forces (lads with the Chekists).
Returning to the Wagner PMC, it is worth noting that it also arose on the basis of the under-roof office of the special services: the backbone of Wagner PMC was formed back in 2013 as part of a security company Moran Security Groupheaded by Vyacheslav Kalashnikov, Putin's colleague in the KGB.
Moran is a firm that, since 2010, has been recruiting mercenaries to guard sea-going ships abroad (including those carrying contraband). It was to Kalashnikov in "Moran" that Utkin first went, quitting the army in 2013. Major Kuznetsov (Ratibor) also began his career there as a mercenary after leaving prison, and many others.
Lieutenant Colonel of the FSB Vyacheslav Kalashnikov from Petersburg. The person who selected the key personnel for the Wagner PMC:
In 2013, the first (unsuccessful) attempt to send mercenaries to Syria for land operations was made through the Kalashnikov firm. They collected a small unit (267 people), with the loud name "Slavic Corps", and sent to fight for Assad. However, without air and artillery support, the mercenaries could not fight, in the first battle they fled and were sent back to Russia.
This detachment included Utkin and the future command staff of Wagner PMC. The first pancake came out lumpy, but in 2014 they were remembered again, creating a new, larger gang, which went to fight on a grand scale - in Ukraine, again in Syria, etc. And the lackey cook was brought in to pay for it all (from the budget money in the end, so it's not a pity).
Dozens of mercenaries of a Russian private military company. There is no official data on this, as well as on the number of dead and wounded: the figures cited in the media vary from "dozens of dead" to 200 people. If so, then these are Russia's largest one-time losses during the Syrian campaign. Who carried them?
What is PMC Wagner
For the first time, Fontanka wrote about Wagner's private military company (PMC) and its participation in the Syrian war in October 2015. According to sources of the publication, in 2013 the Russian managers of the private military company Moran Security Group Vadim Gusev and Yevgeny Sidorov formed a detachment of 267 "contractors" to "guard oil fields and pipelines" in warring Syria. The detachment was named "Slavic Corps". Its members subsequently formed the "Wagner Group", which, according to the publication, took part in hostilities in Ukraine on the side of the LPR and DPR and participated in the disarmament of Ukrainian military bases in Crimea. Investigations by several media outlets at once said that the training of the fighters of this PMC took place in Krasnodar, at the Molkino training ground - this camp began to function around the middle of 2015.
At the end of 2015, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote about the participation of the "Wagner Group" in the battles on the side of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, also citing sources. In the same article, WSJ journalists spoke about the deaths of nine people from the Wagner Group in Syria.
In 2016, from 1,000 to 1,600 PMC employees were simultaneously in Syria, depending on the tension of the situation, RBC magazine wrote, citing a source familiar with the operation.
Who runs the PMC
The founder of the "Wagner group", as various media wrote, is Dmitry Utkin with the call sign "Wagner". Reserve officer, until 2013 he commanded the 700th separate spetsnaz detachment of the 2nd separate spetsnaz brigade of the GRU Ministry of Defense. After being retired, he worked for Moran Security Group, participated in the Syrian expedition of the Slavic Corps in 2013. Since 2014, Utkin has been the commander of his own unit, which, according to his call sign, received the code name “PMC Wagner”. Since the fall of 2015, its activities have been transferred to Syria. There, as the RBC magazine wrote, the “Wagner group” was secretly supervised by the GRU (now called the Main Directorate General Staff Of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation).
What are the losses of Russia in Syria
In December, during a surprise visit to the Khmeimim base, Vladimir Putin solemnly announced the start of the withdrawal russian wars from Syria. By then the official losses russian army were in Syria. But, according to Reuters, in only 9 months of 2017, at least 131 people died in Syria (officially - 16 people).
Where did this figure come from? Reuters has at its disposal a certificate of the death of Russian citizen Sergei Poddubny, issued by the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Syria on October 4. The number of the certificate is 131. The numbering of such certificates is updated annually, the consulate informed the agency. This means that the number of each certificate corresponds to the number of deaths registered by the consulate by that time since the beginning of the year. The consulate also said that they are not engaged in registering the death of military personnel. Members of the "Wagner Group" do not belong to the military. The Ministry of Defense never comments on its losses.
Are PMCs legal in Russia
Mercenary activity is prohibited in Russia, the military can only work for the state. For participation in armed conflicts on the territory of another country, the Criminal Code provides for up to seven years in prison (Article 359), for the recruitment, training and financing of a mercenary - up to 15 years.
But the activities of PMCs in Russia have been trying to legitimize for many years. The latest initiative is quite recent - in mid-January, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation, Mikhail Yemelyanov, announced that the bill on PMCs would be submitted to the lower house within a month. Earlier, the creation of a legal framework to protect the interests of Russian mercenaries was supported by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
It is assumed that the law will make it possible to attract PMC fighters to participate in counter-terrorism operations abroad, as well as to protect various objects such as oil and gas fields. Design, buy or store weapons mass destruction PMCs will be banned. But the law was going to provide social guarantees for Russians who work for PMCs - now they officially do not have any rights and benefits provided for contract soldiers.
Anastasia Yakoreva, Svetlana Reiter
The history of secret Russian mercenaries.
Oleg served in Syria in a military unit that did not officially exist on paper, but which was known as the "Wagner Group" or "musicians", fought on the side of the Syrian pro-government forces and was formed from experienced fighters by order of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Oleg took part in the battles for the liberation of Palmyra. His salary was 4,500 euros per month plus bonuses.
Russia launched a military operation in civil war-torn Syria just over a year ago - on September 30, 2015. A lot has changed since then. If then the house of Assads was kept by a hair's breadth from death, then after Russian intervention the loyalists managed to recapture Palmyra from the Islamic State and win a crushing victory in Aleppo.
All these successes of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), pretty battered in the heat of war, would have been unthinkable without the support of Russia. It carries out air and missile strikes against opponents of government forces, supplies weapons and trains some units.
Officially, there are no fighters in the Russian contingent who do the "dirty work" - people from the "Wagner group". Such a unit or private military company does not formally exist. But this is on paper. In reality, the Russians managed to fight in different parts of Syria both against the Islamic State and against the "greens" - various groups that are considered moderate opposition in the West.
When asked why Oleg went to Syria, he replies: “I was a hired worker, and I don’t care about this war at all. I like this job, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t work there”.
Oleg is not worried that he might be called a hired killer: "That's right, I went for money. Maybe it's even easier, really?" When you meet him on the street, you don't recognize him as a soldier of fortune - Hollywood stamps don't work. A regular guy. A merry fellow, in whose eyes tears welling up when he remembers the fallen comrades.
New Slavic Corps
The Wagner Group is not an ordinary private military company... This is a miniature army. “We had a complete set: mortars, howitzers, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers,” explains Oleg.
In some circles, the unit's fighters are called musicians: supposedly, the unit commander chose a call sign in honor of the German composer Richard Wagner. According to some reports, 47-year-old lieutenant colonel Dmitry Utkin is hiding behind this call sign. He served in the special forces in Pechory. This is not the first time in Syria - before that, he quite officially worked as part of a private military company known as the Slavic Corps.
The company was hired by Syrian tycoons to guard the oil fields and pillars in Deir ez-Zor. However, in October 2013 in the city of Al-Suhna, the guards got into serious trouble: they entered into an unequal battle with the jihadists of the Islamic State. "The participants told me, an enchanting battle, almost an oncoming battle for the city. Almost with two thousand militants against two hundred or three hundred, guards," - says Oleg.
After these events, the contract between the customer and the guards broke down. According to Oleg, they did not agree on the payment: the "Syrian bigwigs" refused to pay extra for more dangerous work and began to threaten the Russians. The "Slavic Corps" left Syria.
The Wagner Group has another, more serious customer - the RF Ministry of Defense (RF Ministry of Defense). Before being transferred to Syria in the fall of 2015, the "musicians" underwent three-month training at the Molkino training ground in the direct vicinity of the base of a separate special forces brigade of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
The "Wagner Group" got to Syria on planes. And these were not Aeroflot liners, says Oleg, smiling. The fighters were transported on transport aircraft of the 76th Airborne Division, which is stationed in the Pskov region.
"The Pskov planes carried us. From Molkino by buses to Moscow: we received passports. From there to Chkalovskiy, from Chkalovskiy to Mozdok by airplane. Two hours for refueling and maintenance. And another five-hour flight: over the Caspian Sea, Iran, Iraq and landing on the base of Khmeimim. Turkey does not allow it - it is not possible directly, "the fighter explains. After their arrival, they were accommodated in the city's sports complex, which Oleg chose not to name.
Equipment, including artillery and tanks, was transported by sea using the so-called "Syrian Express" - on the ships of the Russian Navy from Novorossiysk to Tartus. It is known from various sources that the group was sent to Syria twice: for a short period in the fall of 2015 and to participate in a longer operation in the winter and spring of next year. Each trip is a separate contract.
Typically, Wagner's people are experienced fighters who have gone through several conflicts. And although you won't see recruiting advertisements in the newspapers, the group had no problems recruiting specialists.
Oleg admits that he didn’t go to Wagner the first time - he didn’t trust: “Practically, they get on an acquaintance and nothing else. As such, there is no free set. When recruiting, a couple of tests are carried out: for alcohol and drug use. ".
Among the Wagnerites there are many who fought in the Donbass on the side of the separatists. They undergo additional polygraph tests. They may even ask if they are FSB agents - the special services in Wagner do not favor. The group has its own security department that fights information leaks. Finding photos of Russian condottieri on the Internet is a great success. This is a misdemeanor that entails serious sanctions for the offenders.
In Syria, fighters were paid 300,000 rubles (about 4,500 euros) a month plus bonuses. There was also a kind of insurance system: about 300,000 rubles for injury and coverage of treatment costs in high-quality clinics. For the death - five million rubles to the family. Although from a legal point of view, the contract with the Wagner group is an insignificant piece of paper, Oleg confirms: every last penny and even more have been paid. But there is no talk of complete safety.
That is, do you have at least some protection?
- From what?
- From the state.
- From the state, I think not.
Gone are the fierce hell
The civil war in Syria is merciless - the interests of many countries are intertwined here. Hundreds of factions with varying motivations are fighting on both sides of the front, but none can be denied in brutality. Why does Russia need this stupid war, Oleg prefers not to think. “I haven’t seen smart wars yet,” he retorts.
According to Oleg, a predominantly secular lifestyle reigns in government-controlled territories. A woman in a burqa is very rare, although many wear a hijab. In the liberated areas of Latakia, the local population is more likely for Assad.
"In Latakia, there are portraits of Assad and Hafez Assad - the president's father. But locals do not show the relationship. This is a civil war - you are either for or against. If you try to be neutral, then you will most likely feel bad," Oleg describes.
The locals treat the Russians well, and the Syrian military almost idolizes. "We are Russians for them. You see, they are very glad that the Russians have arrived. Finally, they think, I can sit down and drink mate again, let the Russians fight," says Oleg, smiling. "When we arrived in one city, They were dancing there all night in the squares, shooting into the air with joy. But how upset they were when we left! "
The once wealthy Murek, after the departure of the Russian "musicians", the Syrians left. The years of war have depleted the manpower reserves of the Syrian Arab Army. Coupled with a lack of fighting spirit and military training, only individual units remain combat-ready: "Firstly, they have no training: they cannot even shoot. Secondly, they have a terrifying attitude towards weapons: they do not even clean them."
This is largely why, according to data from various sources, the "Wagner Group" was used as a fire brigade - it operated where it was most difficult and, with the exception of the operation near Palmyra, in small groups.
“We have always been where there was the most garbage, the very hell. All that I saw was the most fierce hell, - Oleg does not hide his disdainful attitude towards the Syrian militias and the military, which, according to him, cannot be distinguished. - God forbid, have such allies. Because they always do the ***. Always. "
In Latakia, due to the inaction of the Syrians, the "Wagner group" suffered significant losses. Oleg retells the circumstances of that battle he heard from his colleagues with poorly concealed irritation. On that day, the Russians were supposed to cover the Syrian attack on the mountain and suppress firing points enemy on adjacent heights. After the end of the artillery preparation, the Syrians refused to go on the attack. The Wagner group had to take over the job. The climb up the mountain went without incident, but at the top point the Russians were under fire from three sides.
"The mountain is completely naked. If you are not in the trench, the end is. The wounded appear, they need to be evacuated. How many people are leaving? At least two are dragging, others are covering. The path along which the guys were climbing turned out to be under fire - you cannot go. I had to go down the mined slope" , - says Oleg.
Wagner's soldiers lost about twenty people wounded that day and not a single one killed.
The Russians tried to rouse the allies to attack by force - they jumped into their trenches and shot at their feet, but they did not budge. "And the Syrians did not stop firing at the height. It turns out they were shooting our ass. It was hell," Oleg complains.
According to him, in the fall, the "Wagner Group" lost about 15 people killed. Half of them in one day: from an ammunition explosion in a campground. What it was, Oleg does not know, there were versions about a mortar mine or an American bomb. In winter and spring, the losses were greater, but exact numbers he could not name.
This is not the only reason why Oleg dislikes government forces. "They steal everything that is not nailed down. They drag everything: pipes, wiring, even tore off the tiles. I saw how they took the toilet," he explains. Oleg did not hear about the punishments for looting from the Syrians.
Fought for Palmyra
However, Oleg does not have a high opinion of the "babakhs" - this is the name of the armed opposition, which is considered moderate in the West. According to him, the concept of the Free Syrian Army should be understood as hundreds of groups, including those of the Islamist persuasion, which periodically fight each other for territory: "They also need to eat something." Although he admits: "Greens are different."
"Turkomans are good guys. Good, I respect them. They fight desperately because they are fighting for their villages. If they leave the village, everyone leaves. They are completely different people. It would be beneficial for the Syrians to oust them from Latakia completely. In fact, it is ethnic cleansing," - he states.
In 2016, the "Wagner Group" was united and transferred to Palmyra to fight the Islamic State. If in the fall there were about 600 mercenaries in Syria, then in winter and spring their number doubled. “It was easier near Palmyra, because we were all packed into a heap and we were performing one integral task,” says Oleg.
According to him, there were no battles as such in the city. In difficult battles, "Wagner's group" occupied all important heights, after which the jihadists simply left the devastated city: "There is a highway behind the ridge. Ours took out tanks and began to destroy everything that moved along it. They pressed a bunch of cars. Then they drove for trophies." ...
Ishilovites have established themselves as fanatical fighters: they sow terror among Iraqis and Syrians alike. Oleg points out that Islamists from Europe are probably fighting well, but they have not encountered such. “Blacks” are also different. They have local militias: a soldier has a machine gun and nothing else. Such a "black" cannot fight either. There was a case. The observers reported that unknown people arrived in cars, lined up in a wedge and are walking towards us. They were covered with artillery, no one fired from a machine gun - they all were killed, "he recalls.
However, there are obvious advantages on the side of the Islamists: “They are very literate. Ours occupied the ridge, but they left Palmyra: they did not arrange Stalingrad.
After completing the task, Wagner's group left the city. The laurels of the victors went to the Syrian troops, who entered the empty city. However, the government troops won the victory won by the Russians: on December 11, 2016, the Islamists recaptured Palmyra.
The fall of this city is an eloquent confirmation that, despite all the recent successes, the war is still far from over. Assad's supporters are unable to act everywhere - they lack the strength and specialists. And not only at the front: the "Wagner Group" was used, among other things, for the repair of equipment.
“There is a huge armored plant in Hama. Before our guys arrived, the Syrians were repairing two tanks a month. When our guys arrived, they immediately began to issue 30 tanks a month. They worked from morning to evening: they were not even allowed into the city there, the poor. They worked hard like slaves - in the evening they fell without legs. Our all left, but these repairmen remained there, "Oleg recalls, laughing.
The Wagner Group was withdrawn from Syria at the end of spring this year. The last operation of the Russians was the cleanup of the area around the airport near Palmyra. "Among the palm trees and a labyrinth of stone fences," the mercenary says.
Since then, there have been no signs of the participation of Russian condottieri in this war. After the liberation of Palmyra, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation held a concert in the ancient amphitheater of the city. We played music by Prokofiev. It is quite possible that musicians may appear in this city again. Only these will be "musicians" with automatic weapons - the ghostly "Wagner group".
Oleg is ready: "Of course I'll go. At least I'll go to Africa, Lord. It doesn't matter where, I really like this work."
In August-September 2017, pro-Assad forces, with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces, successfully developed an offensive in territories in eastern Syria controlled by IS militants. Along with reports of the liberation of settlements in social networks and the media, information about the death of Russian mercenaries began to appear more and more often. Below is a list of PMC Wagner fighters who died in the fighting in Syria over the past two months.
Vitaly Belyaev
24-year-old native of the city of Troitsk. In the photo accompanying the message about Vitaly's death, you can see several medals of the "Wagner group" at once, as well as the departmental medal of the Russian Ministry of Defense "For the return of Crimea." Died on September 22.
Nurullin Azat Rafisovich
Note: in the original version of the material, we provided an incorrect photo (it is also visible on the screenshot of the publication of the Vkontakte group "Bad News"). Nurullin Azat Raisovich, whose photo was originally published, is alive. In Syria, his almost complete namesake from Kazan, Nurullin Azat Rafisovich, died. Below are his photographs.
He lived in the city of Kazan. Reportedly killed by a sniper in the province of Homs. He died on September 15.
Gladyshev Alexey
Originally from Perm. Like many other mercenaries of the Wagner PMC, Alexei had previously taken part in battles in eastern Ukraine. The circumstances of his death are currently unknown. Estimated date of death - September 19. Alexei's relatives, who now maintain his profile on social networks, confirm the fact of his death.
Ilchevsky Ivan Alekseevich
Volzhsky city, Volgograd region. Date and circumstances of death are unknown, he was buried on September 3.
Krizhanovsky Igor
He lived in Nizhny Novgorod. As in the case of Vitaly Belyaev, among the published photographs dedicated to his death, there are photographs of the "Wagner medals" he received. He died on September 13.
Solnyshkov Roman Viktorovich
Note: in the first version of the material, we indicated the name of the deceased as Savely Sukhov. In fact, the deceased's name is Roman Viktorovich Solnyshkov.
Like some other Wagnerites, in 2014–2015 he fought in eastern Ukraine as part of the Sparta battalion. The circumstances and date of death are currently unknown.
Alexey Yaroshevich
In addition, there is information about the death of a number of people in Syria, whose real names have not yet been established:
Cossack from the city of Magnitogorsk, born in 1989, callsign "Kalych".
Dmitry is from Michurinsk, Tambov region.
The names given by us are only those losses of the "Wagner group" about which there is information in open sources. Estimates of the total losses of Russian mercenaries are rare, although, for example, the former defense minister of the so-called DPR Igor Girkin (Strelkov) calls the figure up to 60 people.
Unlike the funerals of Russian soldiers who died in Syria, the funerals of Wagnerian mercenaries usually take place 2-4 weeks after death. The relatives of the victims are trying to prevent information leaks in the media, the profiles of those killed are erased.
The Russian Defense Ministry does not recognize these losses, as well as the existence of PMC Wagner in general.
Material update: In preparation of this material we made two serious mistakes.
Nurullin Azat Rafisovich really died in Syria, but not the one whose photographs we originally cited in the material, but his almost complete namesake. The person whose photographs we initially cited in the publication is Nurullin Azat Raisovich. The deceased's name was Azat Rafisovich Nurullin (the difference is in one letter in the patronymic). They are both from the city of Kazan and previously served in the Airborne Forces. We apologize to Nurullin Azat Raisovich.
The person in the photo, whom we indicated as Savely Sukhov, is actually called Solnyshkov Roman Viktorovich (call sign "Sun"). Savely Sukhov is alive and has published a photograph of the deceased. We offer our apologies to Savely Sukhov and all readers.
Thank you Twitter user
Over two campaigns in 2015-2017, the PMC lost up to a hundred killed and more than three hundred wounded soldiers in Syria.
The personnel documentation of the informal military unit "Wagner's group" was at the disposal of the editorial board of "Fontanka". Our story is about who and why is dying in the Syrian Republic, without getting into the official statistics of the Ministry of Defense, and about why the words of the generals are deceit. And also about how the private war changed after Syria signed a document with the Russian LLC "Euro Policy".
PMC Wagner is an informal military organization that took part in the hostilities in the Donbass (on the side of Novorossiya) and in Syria (on the side of the Assad government). Fontanka first spoke about the activities of this PMC in the fall of 2015. Employees of PMC Wagner are not related to any official power structure Russian Federation, however, for their combat work they received military orders and medals.
Who does the Ministry of Defense despise
It is officially recognized that 39 Russian servicemen were killed during the operation in Syria. The Ministry of Defense should not include the killed and wounded fighters of the Wagner group in its statistics, considering these losses as "a myth about some dead" contractors "from a" mysterious "organization." According to the publication of Reuters, according to which Russia lost 36 people in Syria in 2016, and in seven months of 2017 about 40, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, considered it a "mockery" worthy of contempt: "Again, as sources, some rumors , data from social networks and invented conversations with allegedly "intimidated" anonymous "relatives and acquaintances" "(quoted by RIA Novosti).
If “social media data and conversations” are not enough, documents and photographs must be provided. The content of the documents at the disposal of the editorial office confirms the assumption that since the end of 2015 a private battalion has been operating in Syria in the interests of the structures of businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, and its fighters are training on the territory of a military unit of the Ministry of Defense in the Krasnodar Territory.
Unaccounted losses of Palmyra
Wagner's military operations in Syria can be roughly divided into two campaigns.
The first began in September 2015 when the companies arrived in Syria. Until the beginning of 2016, the units did not carry out large-scale actions. Serious battles and losses began in February - March, during the operation to liberate Palmyra. In April - May 2016, according to our data, the main combat units of the group, having handed over their heavy weapons and equipment, were withdrawn from Syria to Russia.
According to the lists that we believe were drawn up by the Wagner group administration, approximately 32 private fighters were killed during this campaign. About 80 soldiers were seriously injured, requiring long-term inpatient treatment in hospitals. The approximation in our calculations is explained by the fact that not in all cases it was possible to establish the fate of the wounded, who were in critical condition.
The second campaign kicked off in early 2017. The documents at the disposal of Fontanka date from June 2017. The main activity is Palmyra and the adjacent oil fields. Fontanka does not have such accurate evidence as for the period 2015 - 2016. Based on the analysis of available documents and the words of eyewitnesses, we can talk about losses in the range from 40 to 60 killed and two to three times more wounded. We were also able to document the membership of several fighters in the Wagner group, whose deaths in Syria in 2017 were reported by Fontanka, RBC and the Conflict Intelligence Team.
In between the two operations, there were support units in Syria, as well as groups of specialists who participated in local clashes. During this period, the mountainous Latakia, the oil fields of Shaer and Aleppo are mentioned.
The documents that have fallen into our hands - self-filled application forms, copies of passports from "personal files", photographs of candidates taken in the "security service" - allow us to confidently speak about the fighters' belonging to the structure known as "PMC Wagner" and which in the documents is referred to as the "Wagner Group", "Battalion tactical group" Wagner "or simply" company ".
The death of a soldier is more difficult to establish, but in most cases we succeeded. Comments of officials, messages in the media mass media, especially in those media that can in no way be attributed to the opposition, photographs of burials, messages of grieving relatives on social networks and condolences from friends, in our opinion, are sufficient evidence.
Most complex issue - to confirm the place of death. Fontanka believes that it was able to convincingly prove this in at least ten to fifteen cases.
For example, in March 2016, photographs appeared on the Internet resources of the Islamic State (banned in Russia), which were allegedly taken from the killed Russians who fought on the side of Assad. Among them are several photos of a blond guy with a memorable face in a Syrian landscape. The video footage shows the disfigured body of the same person.
Fontanka established the name of the deceased. This is Ivan Vladimirovich Sumkin, born in 1987. Call sign "Varyag", Wagner's reconnaissance company. He is from the village to Orenburg region... He passed his military service in the motorized rifle troops, then worked as an electric welder. In the spring of 2015 he came to Wagner. He died on March 16, 2016. Where the grave of Ivan Sumkin is located, and whether he was even buried at all, is unknown - according to Fontanka, his body was not removed from the battlefield. Ivan is survived by his wife and two-year-old son.
A video about the awarding of the Order of Courage to Alexander Karchenkov appeared on Channel 9 of Stary Oskol on November 3, 2016. It was reported that on September 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the posthumous awarding of Staroskolts Karchenkov, who died during the liberation of Palmyra in the spring of 2016. The order was presented to the widow and mother of Karchenkov by the head of the district.
Lyudmila Karchenkova said that her husband went to Syria to serve on a contract basis in January 2016, and in March it was reported that he died "while completing a mission."
Alexander Karchenkov is not in the official lists of the victims published by the Ministry of Defense, which General Konashenkov suggests to the press to be guided by. And, of course, the 45-year-old unemployed, the foreman of the reserve, could not be a secret officer of the Special Operations Forces.
As follows from the documents of the Wagner company, Karchenkov got a job there in December 2015, was part of a material support company and died on March 13, 2016. Indeed under Palmyra. As proof - a photograph of Karchenkov, taken when registering for service at the Wagner base in Molkino, a self-filled questionnaire, a contract and a non-disclosure agreement.
There are more than forty similar stories with only famous surnames... The Syrian martyrology "Fontanka" - documents, photographs, awards of the "Wagnerites". Each of them, upon entering the "job", filled out a questionnaire, each was photographed and tested on a polygraph. These documents were made available to readers for the first time. We publish stories of men who went to fight for 240 thousand rubles a month and found their death in the Syrian desert. Someone pointed out the reason for admission "patriotism" or "change in the geopolitical position of Russia." Most referred to loans and a desire to improve their financial situation.
Two Russian citizens who did not return from Syria were not included in this list. Soldiers with the callsigns "Altai" and "Bertolet" (their full details are known to the editors) are considered missing. They disappeared on the same day that Ivan Sumkin died, whose body remained on the battlefield.
The chances that Altai and Bertolet are alive and in captivity are minimal, but there is such a possibility, and Fontanka refrains from publishing their names and photographs.
How Wagner got lost in Molkino
Fontanka, RBK, Wall Street Journal and Zeit wrote about the fact that the personnel formation and training of the Wagner group units are taking place on the territory of the military base in the village of Molkino, Krasnodar Territory, in the same place where the 10th separate brigade of the GRU special forces of the Ministry of Defense is stationed. There are dozens, if not hundreds of evidences on social networks that in order to get a job in a PMC, one has to go to Molkino and keep the way straight to the checkpoint with a question about Wagner. But for the Ministry of Defense this is not an argument, because it is regarded as rumors and slander.
Having studied the photographs of Wagner's security service taken during the verification of candidates hired for "work", Fontanka believes that these photos convincingly prove that an armed structure, not provided for by any Russian law, is located precisely on the territory of the Molkino training ground. In the Fontanka investigation, one can see how the guilty "Wagnerites" are treated and even see the head of the mysterious "company security service."
Tramp, Gray, Wagner and Ratibor surrounded the president
The commanders of the "mysterious organization" do not hide their faces. In December 2016, the commander of the group, Dmitry Utkin, and his deputy, Andrei Troshev, appeared in the footage of the protocol footage of the ceremony of the Day of Heroes of the Fatherland in the Kremlin. In January 2017, a photograph was found on the Web, apparently from the same reception, where Utkin and Troshev, as well as two other men with high awards, were captured together with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Fontanka” found out who these mysterious gentlemen are next to the president. Their names are Tramp and Ratibor, in the world - Andrey Bogatov and Alexander Kuznetsov. One of them was released from the colony just before the Ukrainian events, where he was serving time for kidnapping and robbery. The other had no violations worse than incorrect parking.
Palmyra-2016 and Palmyra-2017
Kremlin reception in December 2016 - highest point takeoff of Wagner. Then something went wrong. The hostilities in Syria in 2016 and 2017, as veterans of both campaigns told Fontanka, differ dramatically.
In 2015-2016, according to the participants in the events, training in Molkino took up to two months, ammunition for training was allocated in unlimited quantities, including expensive shots to anti-tank missile systems. In Syria, the group received T-72 tanks, BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket systems, and 122-mm D-30 howitzers. The states of the spring 2016 model provided for 2349 personnel, including four reconnaissance and assault companies, a group command, a tank company, a combined artillery group, reconnaissance and support units. There were 1.5-2 thousand fighters on a Syrian mission at the same time. Combat salaries and bonuses were paid on time, orders were generous.
At the end of that spring of 2016, the first misunderstanding came. According to the initial agreement, five commanders of the Wagner group were presented to the title of Hero of Russia, Fontanka was informed by several knowledgeable interlocutors. Two people passed through the filter of the premium department.
Before the withdrawal from Syria in April-May 2016, heavy weapons and military equipment were handed over. Most of the personnel were sent to the reserve - to sit at home and wait for a call on a business trip. When at the end of 2016 they began to assemble a team for new expedition to the oil fields, it turned out that everything had changed.
Now, at the Wagner base in Molkino, there are allegedly practically no weapons left, with the exception of several machine guns, mainly at the guards.
Training is reduced to test firing, calculations of heavy infantry weapons (large-caliber machine guns, automatic heavy grenade launchers, anti-tank grenade launchers) do not carry out practical firing from "standard" weapons.
Upon arrival in Syria at the beginning of 2017, according to the stories of the returnees, the machine was given 20 rounds of rounds for zeroing weapons and four magazines and 120 rounds of ammunition. The armament consisted of North Korean-made AK-47 assault rifles received from the Syrian side and several Kalashnikov PK and PKK machine guns. The second company got company machine guns of the 1946 RP-46 model. In the Soviet army, these weapons in the troops were replaced by PC and PKK back in the 60s of the last century.
A couple of weeks later, several SVD sniper rifles and one or two AGS-17s entered service, which did not fundamentally solve the problem.
Instead of T-72 tanks, delivered in the spring of 2016, four or five T-62s were received. Instead of D-30 howitzers, there are about a dozen M-30 howitzers of the 1938 model, which have long been removed from service in the Soviet army.
Fontanka does not have exact data on losses in battles in January - May 2017. Based on fragmentary and not documented stories, we can talk about 40-60 dead and three times the number of wounded. By name, seven Wagner fighters who died in 2017 are known, and all of them, apparently, did not return from Syria, since the group's activities in the Donbass were curtailed.
The number of losses exceeding the losses of 2016 by several times, according to the participants in the events, is explained not only by the lack of weapons and military equipment, but also by the markedly reduced quality of personnel.
In 2017, the salary policy of the Wagner company changed. Now, only a soldier of a reconnaissance and assault company who is involved in combat operations receives 240 thousand a month. Hayat's security guards, gunners, operators of unmanned aerial vehicles, support units receive about 160 thousand rubles a month. In contrast to past years, delays occur.
They try to compensate for the decrease in quality by quantity. An additional two reconnaissance and assault companies were deployed. Thus, the number of companies has been brought to six, and the number of infantry personnel in a group is about 2 thousand people. Today there are four companies working in Syria, two companies are temporarily sent to the reserve.
"Spring" in Syria
An additional source of recruitment for Wagner is the population of Donbass. Until 2017, citizens of Ukraine (or the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics) were not accepted to Wagner. The exception was the Karpaty group, which was formed predominantly from ethnic Ukrainians. The composition of this group was planned to be used for sabotage and deep reconnaissance in the rear of the Ukrainian troops, but, as they say, due to poor personnel training, these plans failed.
In 2017, the group was deployed to the Vesna unit (by the call sign of the commander), its strength increased to 100 - 150 people. In addition to Ukrainians, the group included residents of the Cossack regions of Russia and fifteen to twenty natives of Chechnya.
Oil, gas, "Euro Policy"
As of August 2017, according to Fontanka, the work of Wagner's units in Syria is to protect and defend oil-bearing regions with the main facility - the Hayan plant. If possible, advance and seize territory.
The main base is located at the tank center about 80 kilometers from Homs and 40 kilometers from the Hayan plant. In addition to Wagner, units of Hezbollah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and other similar units are based at the Tankodrome, including the display cases of the Syrian ISIS Hunters, heroes of pretentious PR videos. They are promised $ 500 each for twenty days of a military operation, but the Syrians, judging by the stories of the Wagnerites, do not agree to fight on such conditions and often, having received military training, go to the armed opposition or to the very ISIS banned in Russia, for which they were supposed to hunt.
"Fontanka" has already talked about the agreements reached between the government organizations of Syria and the Russian LLC "Euro Polis", behind which are people from the structures of the billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin. LLC "Euro Policy" undertook to release and protect oil fields and factories for reimbursement of expenses for fighting plus a fourth of the oil and gas produced. That is, to do exactly what the Wagner group is doing today (we talked about the likely connections with Yevgeny Prigozhin in the days of the “first Palmyra”). They say that now blue jackets with a white inscription "Euro Polis" are issued to all Wagner employees leaving for a Syrian business trip.
Judging by our information, since 2017, financing of the Wagner campaign, its supply of weapons, equipment and ammunition has been carried out at the expense of the Syrian side and is accompanied by constant delays in payments and disputes over their size.
Why did Sergei Kuzhugetovich quarrel with Evgeny Viktorovich
In 2016, the Wagner group clearly did not experience such problems. Now it has become bad not only with the supply: as eyewitnesses told Fontanka, interaction with army aviation and artillery (which was supposedly commonplace in 2016) was reduced to almost zero, helicopters of the Russian group do not take part in the evacuation of the wounded Wagner battalion, which is significant complicates their delivery to medical institutions. Military transport aircraft allegedly no longer transport wounded Wagnerians, and they have to be taken out almost in the cargo compartments of charter flights of the Syrian airline flying to Rostov.
The reasons for the cooling that have come, according to Fontanka's sources, may be different.
Perhaps the conflict was caused by weak conspiracy in the activities of the quasi-military organization. If the army men were ready to endure an incomprehensible private structure on their territory, supply it with weapons, equipment and support it with fire as long as it remained a secret, then since the appearance on the Web of numerous information about Wagner and his team, the situation has changed. It is unlikely that the military command wants to be held responsible for the actions of a detachment that is not bound by any formal laws and operates outside the boundaries of law. It is impossible not to note the coincidence: the time of the urgent withdrawal of Wagner from Syria with the actual disarmament and the suspension of manning and the time of publication of "Fontanka" about Dmitry Utkin and his team.
According to one version, the reason was not at all serious for state people: a dispute about the number and dignity of awards. Fontanka has reason to believe that the reason for the cooling is much more significant.
Investigations by Fontanka, RBK, Novaya Gazeta, other media outlets, the Anti-Corruption Foundation of Alexei Navalny have convincingly demonstrated the almost monopoly position of Yevgeny Prigozhin in public procurement of the Defense Ministry and the structures subordinate to the military. Legal entities associated with Prigozhin receive the lion's share of orders for the construction and maintenance of military camps, cleaning, and occupy almost the entire military food market.
Judging by the open information on the website of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, numerous claims and proceedings in cases of administrative offenses in arbitration courts and in courts of general jurisdiction, against the companies associated with the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Concord holding, have been growing since 2016. Companies and officials are held administratively liable for violation of licensing requirements and for non-compliance with labor law, army control authorities, after checking military canteens, identify and document cockroaches, products with traces of mold and decay, and then resort to penalties. Military prosecutors record proceedings construction works without appropriate documents, permits, projects and react - within the limits of authority.
At the same time, a situation has developed when the same military power supply system, for example, is completely closed to the structures of the "Concorde" and its restructuring promises many problems. A similar situation is with the maintenance and construction of military camps. The military department, apparently, can no longer refuse the services of a monopolist, although the leadership of the Defense Ministry is unlikely to be happy about this state of affairs.
Games with your own private army, when the possible profit goes to the corporation, and all the bumps fall on the military, who are responsible for the operation in Syria, could overflow the cup of patience.
Another issue is the level at which a decision is made on the use (and the very existence) of a private battalion. And whose word at that level weighs more: the Minister of Defense or the owner of the Russian Kitsch restaurant.
