The Wagner mercenary group also recruits in prisons for the war of aggression against the Ukraine. Some of these recruits are now escaping from a training center. Citizens are warned of the gunmen. Wagner financier Prigozhin appeased.
Six armed Wagner group mercenaries recruited from Russian prisons escaped from a Wagner training center in the Luhansk region on Friday. This is reported by the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW). A Russian source warned residents of the Rostov region to be vigilant and "pay particular attention to persons in military camouflage uniforms" as the fleeing Wagner mercenaries may have made their way to Rostov.
The financier of the Russian private army, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed according to the ISW that he had the situation under control - he knew more than the press. According to Prigozhin, the Russian National Guard, the police and the Wagner Security Service have extensive experience in arresting armed persons. They worked to arrest "a lot of scoundrels that [Russian citizens] don't even need to know about," starting from the front lines of the Luhansk region, Donetsk region and Russia's borders.
The Wagner mercenary group recruited for the war in Ukraine, among other things, in prisons. According to British intelligence services, these poorly trained recruits are being used as cannon fodder. According to British findings, they sometimes receive their orders via smartphone – under threat of execution. The Ministry of Defense in London announced two weeks ago that some would be given a cell phone or tablet that would use satellite images to show them their specified attack route and their target. For this advance they received fire cover, but rarely armored vehicles.
"Wagner members who deviate from their attack routes without permission are likely to face summary execution," the British wrote. The commanders would be informed via drone images from protected positions. "These brutal tactics are aimed at preserving Wagner's rare reserves of experienced commanders and armored vehicles at the expense of more readily available convict recruits, which the organization considers expendable," the British ministry said.
