PARIS aEUR Marat Gabidullin has a sloping face and a thin hairline from years of being exposed to the elements. He is 56 years old and has the body and muscles of a man thirty years older. He wears a large ring with the skull image.
The symbol of the Wagner Group aEUR”, a private Russian mercenary force, is the skull. It is believed that the Wagner Group aEUR was funded by an oligarch who has close ties with President Vladimir Putin. This group is fighting alongside Russia’s army in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas. It is widely believed that some of the “little green man” aEUR well-trained fighters, who wore fatigues with no insignia or markings, who overtook part of eastern Ukraine in 2014, were Wagner Group soldiers.
Ukraine has accused at least two members of the Wagner Group of war crimes this week.
Wagner Group activities don’t stop at Ukraine. In recent years, the organization has been active in Africa as well as Libya, Sudan and Mozambique. There are currently around 10,000 Wagner Group members.
Gabidullin is the first Wagner ex-soldier to speak out publicly. He lives in France and has applied for asylum. Michel Lafon, a French publisher, published his memoir Moi Marat de l’armee Wagner (I Marat ex-Commander of the Wagner Army). Although the book was originally published in Russian last year, it has not yet been translated into English.
Gabidullin was born in Bashkirskaya in Soviet Russia. He served 10 years in the Soviet army as an officer before being fired. He was unemployed at the lowest point of his life in 2015
He says, “I was depressed. A friend told me about a private military company that I could be qualified for due to my military background.”
Although the Wagner Group is sometimes called Putin’s shadow army, the Kremlin has never denied any responsibility or knowledge of its activities. According to some reports, the group was founded by a Russian Chechen war veteran who was so impressed with Hitler that he named it after Richard Wagner.
In 2014, the organization was fighting alongside Russian-backed separatists within the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Wagner was referred to by the U.S. government as a “proxy force”, according to Russia’s defense ministry. Gabidullin claims that the group is very similar to the Russian army aEUR,” with many ex-officios from the corps. It’s also quite different.
He says, “It’s very versatile and can change structure quickly depending on the circumstances.” It’s a small army that has everything. What we do is dependent on the client.
These clients include the President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the junta in Mali.
Gabidullin spent three years in Syria.
He says that one goal in Syria was to win quickly. “But the second goal was to conceal the losses suffered by the Russian military in that campaign. We wanted to portray a strong Russian army that won victory at a low cost.
He claims that it was all deceit. Although the cost was enormous, no one will ever be able to determine the true numbers. Experts say that it was often Wagner Group soldiers who were on the frontlines aEUR”, so their losses are greater than the regular army’s. Private armies also go uncounted.
Kevin Limonier is a Wagner Group specialist and teaches geopolitics in Paris 8. He says Wagner isn’t a group. It’s a brand. This is very different from the Russian army. He says that it does not exist as an officially recognized structure.
Limonier claims that Wagner is different than private military companies such as the aEUR”, and very public, aEUR”, U.S. company Blackwater. Blackwater made billions during U.S-led wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, before changing hands and renaming. Limonier describes the Wagner Group as “a galaxy” of organizations that have different names and are difficult to trace.
Analysts and Western governments who have studied the group believe that the Wagner Group was funded by Yevgeny Prgozhin, an oligarch still wanted for interfering with the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Limonier claims that Pregozhin’s empire is built on three types activities.
He says that the first type of activity is the security business and mercenary. “The disinformation business, information warfare and the third type are the second and third types. The exploitation of African natural resources is the third.”
According to this expert, Wagner’s earnings have increased tremendously over the past few years due to its Africa operations.
France 2’s public television channel aired a documentary recently that showed how these activities intertwine to aEUR”, as the documentary put it. aEUR” is an acronym for “aEUR” which stands for corrupt regimes, terrorizes local populations, and spin lies.
Wagner’s presence in ex-colonies, such as Mali and the Central African Republic, has attracted attention in France. From 2013 to January 2013, France had a force of 5,000 fighting terror in Mali.
They were welcomed by Malians and stopped a jihadist offensive when they entered Mali. Limonier claims that the Wagner Group stoked local hostilities over the years.
He says that Mali was a former French colony and relations with Paris can be difficult. “A French presence could be considered the continuity of colonial authority.”
Limonier claims that the Wagner Group amplified the narrative by accusing French forces of inciting violence in the region and pushing the message through disinformation campaigns.
The French army released images from drone cameras in April that showed soldiers of Wagner Group lying dead in the sand next to a French military base in Mali. This was after the French withdrew. These images were shared on social media along with the caption, “Look what the French army left behind.”
A United Nations report dated May 30, 2012, documents an increase in violence in Mali. aEUR” Summary executions, forced disappearances, and torture have all increased since January when the country’s military began to partner with Russian mercenaries. According to the U.N., the number of civilians who were killed in Mali increased by 324% over last year and human rights violations rose by 150%. According to the report, the role of the Malian army in these acts was up 9322% in the first three months 2022.
Limonier says that the only way to defeat Wagner Group is to expose their activities. It can also be dangerous. It can be dangerous. In 2018, three Russian journalists were ambushed while covering Wagner’s activities in Central Africa Republic. They were working with an investigative media outlet that Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled anti-Kremlin Russian tycoon.
Limonier says that “Wagner was organized by people who grew-up in a post Soviet society, where violence & death don’t have any meaning the same as in our Western societies.”
Gabidullin claims that when you are part of Wagner, your job is not real in the real world.
He says, “A person who is a part of this group exists within a legal vacuum.” “So whatever happens, it happens.” The company is not registered in Russia.
Gabidullin also stated that soldiers are exempted from any consequences for their actions aEUR” anyone who “doesn’t exist” can do everything.
Gabidullin claims he quit Wagner after becoming morally exhausted fighting in Syria for a corrupt government, which was hated by its citizens. He claims he was offered to fight in Ukraine, but declined.
He claims he wrote his book to expose the truth about Syria and their wars, as well as the lies of their government.
