Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1488818
participate in those, competing among themselves, and driving the food prices up. In reality, any tendering procedure as such is simply a farce. The prices and the results are usually prearranged. The tendering procedures are used as a tool that makes it possible to transfer the state budget funds to structures that, formally, remain in private hands. Prigozhin, in exchange, is privileged with the freedom to act in other sectors (exclusive real estate for instance). He also gets his cut of that money, in essence, stolen from the state budget. In exchange, he renders his services to the Kremlin, establishing an illegal special force, the activities that step far beyond the war efforts in Africa, or the Middle East. Prigozhin's media and structures tampered with the 2018 Madagascar election. War was not present there, so the Wagner Group was not employed. Other professional mercenaries were used instead: political technologists, hackers, and professional propagandists. The Wagner Group's contractors are employed in regions where the use of force remains indispensable: Syria, the Central African Republic, or Venezuela, where they were acting as the regime's security detail. They were also providing training for the local forces. Notably, not only is the corruption used here to drain out the funds from the state budget. It is also used as a budget tool for a large, unofficial SOF group acting on behalf of the Russian Federation. It is illegal in the light of Russian law, and thus it is a perfect tool for conducting hybrid warfare. Formally, the Kremlin has no association whatsoever, with the actions conducted with the use of this tool. "We're not there" ("nas tam nyet") saying could be a motto used by the Prigozhin's organization. When the Wagner Group commits war crimes, this has a detrimental impact on the Russian reputation, but proving the association between that group, and the Russian state would be a significant challenge. Another matter that needs to be brought up, when speaking of the Wagner Group, is the issue of significant human reserves, largely dependent on the regime itself. Current estimates assume that at least 15,000 people were a part of the Wagner Group - it is an army of criminals, known to the Russian intelligence services. Any evolution of the power structure, headed toward democracy or reforms, poses a direct threat to those people. They could face prison immediately. It is thus a reserve available for hybrid warfare outside of Russia, but it also can be used against political opponents or Russian citizens internally, in a www.fragoutmag.com