Private armies or as they are more commonly known as mercenaries are nothing new in the history of mankind. They were used in Ancient Greece and have been a mainstay in most conflicts ever since.
The word mercenary comes from the Latin merces, for wages or pay, and is no different than the solde or pay due to fighters, from which the word “soldier” is derived.
Currently, private military company, or PMC, such as the Wagner Group are dominating the headlines. Before that it was Blackwater, though not because of operations parallel to or in place of the US military, the South African PMC Executive Outcomes (EO) in the 1990s and before Bob Denard and ‘Mad’ Mike Hoare.
Some have even been institutionalised like the French and Spanish Foreign Legion and the Vatican Guard. However, there are differences between the commonly accepted definition in the West and Russia’s version of the companies.
While in the West, the use of private military contractors is mainly based on the flexibility of resources, as their extensive use by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan showed, in Russia’s case it is different.
To Russia, they are basically an extension of state power in a covert way and a certain amount of denial as is always the case with the use of mercenaries.
Mercenaries, often underestimated as cheap imitations of national armed forces, have emerged as a powerful and overlooked threat in today’s world.
Far from being mere foot soldiers, private military companies like Russia’s Wagner Group operate as heavily armed multinational corporations.
Wagner first grabbed the mainstream media’s eye in Ukraine in 2014, when soldiers in unmarked uniforms appeared to help pro-Russian forces illegally annex Crimea for Russia. Before that it was active in Syria supporting the military forces of Bashar Assad.
Prior to his recent and somewhat enigmatic demise in Russia, there was considerable intrigue surrounding Yevgeny Prigozhin’s next steps in relation to the Ukrainian conflict. Simultaneously, there seemed to be growing dissatisfaction with the Russian military leadership. It’s worth noting that his group had been actively consolidating Russia’s influence in multiple African nations.
They provide their services to Moscow in exchange for nearly unrestricted access to the natural resources of the African nations where they are deployed, and in return, Moscow compensates Wagner Group.
Wagner Group serves as Russia’s proxy instrument in various African nations, including Syria, Libya, and Mali, providing a spectrum of services ranging from training and protection to even engaging in high-intensity combat when required.
Prigozhin released a video earlier last week in which he claimed to be in Africa, where his mercenaries have relocated since the abortive uprising with rumours already in full swing on who will replace him once he is removed.
Prigozhin’s longstanding feud with the military and the armed uprising he led in June, gave the Russian state ample motive for revenge. Media channels linked to Wagner quickly suggested that a Russian air defence missile had shot down the plane. The Wagner chief has been reported to use the plane, including shortly after his failed mutiny, when the plane departed from St Petersburg to Belarus on the morning of June 27.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly suggested that a high-ranking mercenary named “Sedoy” should take the helm instead of Evgeny Prigozhin.
The name “Sedoy”, which means “grey-haired” in Russian, is believed to be a pseudonym for senior Wagner Group commander Andrei Troshev.
These reports shed light on Putin’s proposal to put “Sedoy” in charge, pointing to the possibility of a reorganization within the leadership of the Wagner Group.
Whether this will happen and what impact it will have, is still unknown. However, Troshev’s notoriety, coupled with his close ties to Dmitry Utkin, a former GRU special forces officer and co-founder of the Wagner Group, adds to the intrigue surrounding the Wagner Group and its activities.
Tonio Galea is Editor of Corporate ID Group’s www.cde.news