Inside Wagner: The Rise of Russia's Notorious Mercenaries | VICE Special Report

we turn now to something called the Vagner group The Vagner group a shadowy security firm linked to Yi pren a powerful oligarch known as Putin's Chef they're not actually soldiers they're Mercenaries they are known as the orchestra of Wagner or just as the musician [Music] Wagner MOS is long denied V presence giving the Russian government the ability to deny and avoid direct official involvement how did you hear about the opportunity to join [Music] Vagner a growing list of alleged atrocities committed by The Mercenaries within expanding Global footprint the V group used to be an organization which traded in secrecy and operated in the shadows a major development as a convoy of Vagner mercenaries heading for the Russian Capital Vladimir Putin may have gotten his revenge a corporate jet plummeting from the sky whether he's dead or not prosan certainly dead in his future in Russian politics in this bunker just 2 miles from the Ukrainian border with Russia Battalion 228 hunts for Russian [Music] infiltrators they monitor the Border map out coordinates and then feed that information to ground troops most of these guys are volunteers they're using commercially available drones on this screen over here they're actually using a Google call to talk to the Drone operator today they're trying to take out soldiers from the Russian army but weeks ago they had another Target operatives from the notorious mercenary group Vagner most of the world knows the Vagner group as the brutal mercenaries deployed in the invasion of Ukraine but they've been the kremlin's covert weapon of choice for nearly 10 years their ranks were originally made up of mostly Elite X Special Forces starting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 then quietly deployed around the world to advance Russia's military and political agenda take off first they sell military services to foreign governments once they're in Vagner starts Shady businesses to turn a profit off the country's resources everywhere they've gone they've left a trail of severe human rights abuses even though vogner's current mission in Ukraine is in the headlines it's an outlier from their Global operations they were deployed here when the invasion depleted the Russian army forcing President Putin to call on Bogner who in turn recruited thousands of prisoners to wear down the ukrainians in this part of eastern Ukraine you can tell there's been a lot of heavy fighting recently we're just near the front line where Ukrainian troops are trying to hold two key towns from falling to the Russians mainly to Vagner soldiers for months Ukrainian forces and Russian troops backed by Vagner were locked in a grinding fight for Baku can you tell me about the day that you captured the Vagner Fighters this is you just here as you're approaching what are you feeling what were you saying to him here we've heard about two levels of Vagner one these sort of special operatives and the second level all of these prison recruits do you know which one of those the guys who you captured were [Music] the soldiers captured by Battalion 108 were former convicts the man who led the prison recruitment campaign was Vagner founder and financier yeni pan this prison yard was the first time progan once a convict himself publicly admitted his connection with Vagner for years progan outright denied the group's existence and even sued people who suggested he was behind it but he's actually been a Kremlin Insider for nearly 30 years Landing lucrative contracts with the government ultimately becoming known as Putin's Chef early Vagner recruit Marat gabidulin was the first former member to speak publicly about the group and has since fled to France he briefly served as Pan's personal assistant what is Pan's personality [Music] [Music] like with around 10,000 contractors already deployed in Africa and the Middle East pran's prison recruiting spree ballooned their ranks up to 50,000 [Music] after weeks of negotiations intelligence officials agreed to let us talk to two Vagner prison recruits captured in eastern Ukraine both say they were recruited by progan himself they spoke to us of their own will but were watched the entire time by Ukrainian [Music] intelligence how long into your jail sentence did you decide to join Vagner I didn't one year two months what were you in prison [Music] for how did you hear about the opportunity to join Bodner when you were in prison what kind of things did he promise you what was your impression of prosan when he came to the prison for were you impressed by him what did he say about vogner's missions in places like Africa and Syria there's been a lot of reports that specifically the prisoners who were recruited into Vagner are being used as Canon f is that how you felt what are you thinking about bogner's strategy what happened the day that you were captured are you scared at all about being sent back to Russia what fogner might do knowing that you were in detention here in the end he wasn't exchanged for a Ukrainian prisoner of war months later he appeared in a Ukrainian propaganda video claiming to have defected to their side Goan took to Telegram and threatened his [Music] life on the other side of the front line Ukrainian Soldier Alexandra maich was captured in the fighting near bmud and held by Vagner as a prisoner of war in the basement of a converted shoe factory for 108 [Music] days did you know who it was who had captured you why do you think they were telling you that they were [Music] vogner what kind of information were they trying to get out of you during the interrog how did you keep your spirits up were you thinking about can you tell me about the day that you were [Music] released what was it like when you guys first saw each other again [Music] [Music] for how are you feeling now 3 months later [Music] we're learning about new tensions in Russian forces on the front linner boss gy pran says his mercenaries are moving out vogner's exit could Mark a turning point in one of the bloodiest battles in Europe since World War II progan may have claimed victory in bakut but they paid a heavy price for deviating from a model they had spent years developing a small footprint with a big Financial payoff the first time Vagner was able to make money was in Syria where they were deployed to fight Isis protect oil fields and keep dictator Bashar al- Assad in power pan negotiated a 25% cut of revenue from each oil refinery they protected did you get the sense that he was motivated more by making money there or by winning on the battlefield one of their most defining battles was a 4-Hour standoff with their Syrian allies against 40 American troops near a gas Refinery dozens of Vagner members were killed but at the time Russia still denied their existence despite major missteps and casualties in Syria Vagner bosses continued to pitch their model to leaders under pressure [Music] for bra the Central African Republic is vogner's most successful and entrenched Model A few hundred Russian mercenaries arrived here in 2018 and today Vagner and Russia are car's closest allies it was part of a legitimate un approved deal to allow Russian military trainers to work with Central African soldiers to fight Rebel insurgencies this is one of their training bases and here instead of Vagner they insisted we call them instructors Vali perv is the head of the contractors in the Central African Republic and the top security adviser to the president in January 2022 vital agreed to show us their operations across the country an unprecedented offer for a group that rejects CL media coverage Vice news Remains the only team of Western journalists to date to embed with Vagner why now do you think it's important to show people what you're doing here [Music] the Central African Republic has been battered by a conflict that started as a sectarian war in 2012 and morphed into fractured Rebel groups fighting for diamonds and gold Rebels have controlled at least three quarters of the country for most of the last decade the National military hasn't been able to regain this territory even with a 15,000 strong un peacekeeping Force and training from the EU and French [Music] military I saw you speak a bit of Russian yourself now after just a few years on the ground vogner's presence turned the tide of the war may God bless you and The Narrative of Russian success here helped legitimize Vagner in the eyes of other governments dealing with instability now they're cashing in on conflicts across Africa [Music] okay to the where they came in so he's doing surveillance on the perimeter of the city and he's pointing out spots in the Hills where Rebels have attacked in the past in early 2021 when car's Rebel groups circled the capital threatening to overthrow the government the Russians and their National Army trainees were the most visible in pushing Rebels back and in retaking major cities president Vader's administration led the deepening of diplomatic ties with Russia and struck the deal for Vagner to operate 5 years later their ranks have quadrupled in size Russia has unseed France as the main International partner and Vali has the ear of the president given all of the challenges you're facing what do you say to countries like France like the US who are critical of your military cooperation agreement with Russia so do you think this criticism is unfair then what is your own personal relationship what's your working relationship like with your Russian security [Music] advisor this relative security comes at a major human cost there's widespread evidence they're responsible for arbitrary arrests torture and killing around the world in car alone we confirmed hundreds of incidents involving Russian contractors and trainees including dozens of cases of rape this brutality is intentional severe violence is used to terrify and control the population out of Fear One Survivor asked us to hide her identity this strategy of Terror goes beyond population control they also Target civilians living in areas rich in resources they get paid by the government in part with access to the country's vast gold and diamond mines when new mines are discovered Vagner Fighters have been accused of violently chasing off local miners working there in the town of boyo dozens of people were killed in one attempt to take over a mine for Fore many [Music] with all the allegations of abuse Vali wanted to emphasize their successes he took us to the city of bombar where Vagner has its second biggest base in the country and where Carr's biggest gold mine is found it's also where dozens of Human Rights abuses have allegedly occurred Vitali wanted us to see this meeting in a central mosque with local leaders who seemingly support their mission in [Music] car most in the meeting were quick to praise the Russians for bringing stability but their violence is effective in instilling fear no one wanted to confront them except for one lawyer [Music] Vagner leaders including Vitali dismissed these allegations of abuse they insist they're not only protecting civilians but also effectively neutralizing the rebels as soon as we arrived here the Russian contractors wanted to show us about 200 guys who they say are ex-rebels who have recently surrendered completely voluntarily without a fight we're not really sure what exactly they want us to do next these men were recently vogner's enemies on the battlefield suddenly they were being trotted out for us we were told to speak to Colonel Kiri a former Rebel with one of the groups trying to overthrow the government he's now working with the Russians when you surrendered who exactly were you surrendering to okay so do you think that the men here also respect the Russian instructors and uh maybe you can explain why these men here are wearing the juu Vagner t-shirts okay our host pulled Colonel Kiri out of the interview and cut it short just after he referred to them as Vagner [Music] even though they claim to now be operating in the open denial and deception are core to vogner's Identity it's long been an Open Secret that it's Vagner operating here but before prosan admitted he was running the group Russian contractors abroad were clearly instructed not to refer to themselves as Vagner at the time Vali didn't want to acknowledge on camera at least that the work he's doing was connected to the group [Music] Wagner MO why though is it so sensitive to call these instructors [Music] Vagner we spent weeks in car with our Russian contacts it was surprising they allowed us access in the first place scratching the surface beyond what Vagner wants you to know is nearly impossible and it can be deadly in 2018 three Russ journalists were murdered in car in the middle of their own investigation into Vagner and theal just drove bias really yep they they just went in front of us uh yeah in this like that white car do they look at us uh I feel like he may have noticed you they want us to know that they know what we're up to when we tried to film without them we were followed we wanted to do an interview with a national Army trainee who said he witnessed Russian soldiers committing crimes against civilians but as soon as we got there armed men were waiting to arrest us it was ultimately Vitali himself who secured our release but we suspected him of orchestrating the arrest even now that they operate in the open the way they operate is intentionally opaque it's hard to pin them down on their military strategy business model and their crimes I'd like to ask you to respond to some of the allegations against Russian instructors here but every time you get a report you do a local investigation of course when you've investigated all of these rumors you haven't found one example where a Russian soldier has behaved badly towards a civilian mhm not one not one we spoke to two women who said they were raped by white armed men they described their tattoos very clearly I'm curious if you've investigated those cases for but you know you've been here long enough to know that very few people have any faith in the justice system here people hear that when they went to the authorities then they got killed for sharing their story so you can't just say to people that they should report this they're afraid it's difficult to fake a test yes it's it's so difficult but uh but they're telling me they're very scared and when you see Russians around you can understand they have masks on you guys have big guns like of course they're afraid they're scared despite the hundreds of Human Rights allegations Vagner has become more geopolitically influenced uential and even richer their setup is a hybrid model with missions sustained by payoffs from foreign governments resource extraction and funds from Russian authorities including equipment from the ministry of defense for years these blurry lines served everyone the Kremlin completely denied their existence while all along pumping money into their operations perian took credit as the finance year but Putin and the state were always behind it for the Vagner group was intentionally set up to enable criminal activity globally with limited accountability and maximum deniability perian and his inner circle including powerful oligarchs built a sprawling Mafia likee network of shell companies to do business alongside vogner's military operations this complex Network Shields vogner from International and domestic scrutiny allowing the group to move money without getting caught it all hinges on countries willing to facilitate both their Logistics and finances us and UK government analysts say the UAE looks the other way as Vagner Affiliated companies launder profits from Africa through Dubai pan miscalculated his value to the Kremlin taunting them throughout the battle for bmot and then making the ultimate move risk this entire network by trying to overthrow Putin officials in Moscow are taking emergency measures as a convoy of Vagner mercenaries appears to be heading for the Russian Capital his attempted Mutiny collapsed within 24 hours and he quickly broker a deal with Putin to escape to [Music] Belarus [Music] for [Music] more isolated than ever Russia is now leaning on Africa both economically and diplomatically we're in St Petersburg at what they're calling a friendly match between Russia and Africa it feels very lighthearted and innocent on the sidelines of this Russia Africa for that's happening here Russia hosted a summit between African leaders and Russian Representatives this summer this soccer game is one of the cultural events held alongside [Music] it what do you think African countries are getting out of their relationship with Russia we are benefiting a lot we trade with Russia so why should we be against Russia we are for Russia Africa period leaders from six African nations in St Petersburg Putin's biggest International Conference since he invaded Ukraine Wagner intrinsically tied up with Kremlin and Putin's interests in Africa Putin headlined the conference and behind the scenes tried to broker deals with African leaders in what was the biggest International Event he's held since he invaded Ukraine obviously a lot of these African Partners need Russia but it's also about Russia deepening ties with a lot of African countries and gaining allies on the continent the majority of vogner's interests lie in Africa and the Russian State itself is doubling down on its Investments there this Summit was a Scramble for influence and business just weeks after pran's Mutiny Russia is already one of Africa's biggest weapons exporters and where Vagner goes roste the Russian State weapons manufacturer usually follows uh here we have the most contemporary line of Russian armaments so these are some of the most purchased ones we don't speak about purchases oh you can't talk about sales but they're popular we can say they're popular they are popular around the globe now yeah we can continue okay is there ever a scenario where if you have a buyer would you help them to train their guys on your equipment one second we can make a we got to run that [Music] by of course we constantly provide training for all of our clients vogner's Empire hinges on a soft power Playbook including troll farms and social media campaigns that co-opt existing resentment against Western Powers peran even bought off social media personalities like K seba what do you say to people who say that Russian influence in Africa is just a new type of colonialism there's a long history with Russia and Africa but now you can't deny they're taking resources from Central African Republic from Mali do you think those African countries are getting enough in in return peran recently said that now they're going to give even more resources to African countri countes do you think these Partnerships with Vagner are a good idea this is the exact point pan was trying to make his first time back in Russia since he tried to overthrow Putin there are indicators that many Afric countries saw what happened in Russia with Frozen and are now doubting his capabilities even in Africa on the sidelines of the Russia Africa Summit he was meeting with African leaders at St Petersburg hotels frantically trying to preserve his Empire soon after the summit pan went on a tour of vogner's bases across Africa and was spotted here at this Vagner link Cultural Center we visited in 2022 Afric this Center is just a small part of vogner's large scale propaganda Mission which is key to prian soft power Playbook on the continent would he his trip to Africa was a last ditch show of strength before he was killed Vagner mercenary group Chief yev Jenny pan has been listed among passengers on board a plane that crashed just north of Moscow this according to Russian State media vogner's top command of Genny progin his Deputy Dimitri utkin the security chief of Vagner 2 all killed in one clean sweep it's almost certainly the Kremlin were involved in the initial decision to bring down the aircraft without prion the Kremlin will most likely attempt to nationalize his multinational criminal Syndicate now the virgoan chapter is over and now we just go back to business as usual as directed by the Russians Putin is now rid of High Level Threats to his power from within vogner some of the rank and file have quit some have joined other mercenary groups or signed on with the ministry of Defense but many are still deployed in Africa ultimately vogner has always been an extension of the Russian State first covertly and more recently out in the open whether it's called Vagner or not those aspirations for geopolitical influence and profit along with their methods of achieving those goals aren't going [Music] [Music] anywhere [Music] [Music] spee

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Length: 44min 22sec (2662 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 05 2023