Wagner Group Head explains why he was ousted from recruiting convicts
Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of Wagner Group, named three main reasons why he was completely ousted from recruiting convicts in Russian colonies. One of the reasons is the opposition of the military leadership.
Source: 7x7 news outlet, Vazhnie istorii
Details: This information was sent by Prigozhin to a Sverdlovsk [a Russian-occupied city in Luhansk Oblast – ed.] deputy as a response to his request to assist in the recruitment of women from the colonies. The deputy posted a screenshot of the businessman's answer, although there is neither a signature nor a mention of Prigozhin or Wagner Group.
Prigozhin cited, in particular, the reasons for his exclusion from the recruitment of prisoners:
- "Excessively high efficiency of task performance, which puts a certain number of authorised persons in an uncomfortable position, as well as discredits the work of some units in other areas of the front. [Their – ed.] logic: ‘Too bold for the army and harmful, they don't let you sit it out in a hideout.’"
- "Wagner Group uses convicts not as convicts, but as equal fighters, which causes irritation of the tightly-knit elite."
- "A certain number of pro-war functionaries decided that if they recruited convicts, they would be able to become famous as the Wagner Group."
Background:
- On 9 February, Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, announced that the recruitment of convicts to the recognized criminal private military company has now completely stopped. He never specified what caused such a decision.
- On 10 February, The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the Wagner Group (Private Military Company, PMC) is limiting recruitment from prisons as it loses its relevance on the front in Ukraine. "This phenomenon is consistent with the overall trend of conventional Russian troops slowly replacing the Wagner Group around Bakhmut, indicating that Russian military command may be shifting away from its reliance on Wagner and therefore on using prisoners as cannon fodder," the ISW concluded.
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