mobilization. Many mobilized soldiers themselves are not suitable for joining the army at all. Even those who seem qualified are some low-quality semi-illiterate ones. But no matter what, through mobilization, the Russian army's military gap is gradually being filled. Of course, it will take some time. The Russian army on the front line still has serious lack of combat infantry and other troops.
The human resources gap of the Russian army is being filled, and the Ukrainian army does not have this problem at all, so that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense even stopped recruiting this fall. So, who still has the problem of insufficient troops on the battlefield in Ukraine today? Careful netizens have guessed that the "Wagner" mercenary.
Since the start of the "Special Military Operation", the "Wagner" mercenaries began to expand rapidly. With their performance on the battlefield, they not only gained more resources, but also gradually improved their reputation and status. They even made movies describing the "Wagner" mercenaries to encourage young people to participate in "Wagner".
"Tourist" which describes the "Wagner" mercenaries fighting the African rebels
, the boss of the "Wagner" mercenary, Evgeny Prigojin, also publicly criticized the Russian army with Chechen Republic President Ramzan Kadyrov , and had inexplicable and complex relationships with intelligence agencies such as the Russian Federation Security Bureau (FSB), some local forces, and extreme nationalist organizations, which faintly formed another huge force in Russia.
Evgeny Prigojin compared the "Wagner" mercenaries to Robin Hood, the three musketeers and the three hundred Spartan warriors, trying to give his members' complex unofficial armed forces more heroic. Even though he offered three times the high salary that was as high as that of the Russian special forces, in Russia, there were still not many people participating in the "Wagner" mercenaries. Most Russians knew the virtues of the "Wagner" mercenaries, which forced Yevgeny Prigazin to go to prison more. As long as he did not commit rape and terrorism crimes, he could join the "Wagner" mercenaries and go to the battlefield to earn high salaries and reduce sentences.
However, even so, the "Wagner" mercenaries still faced a huge manpower gap. On the battlefield, the Ukrainian army was particularly fierce towards the "Wagner" mercenaries and repeatedly attacked their command centers and assembly areas. In Russia, "Wagner" treats prisoners who go to the battlefield as well, and even prisoners who disobey during the training period will be shot. Don’t think that prisoners in prison are invisible. In short, it is difficult to recruit enough new members from prison if they want to continue to rely on high salaries, sentence reductions and speeches full of extreme nationalism.
Sources familiar with the Wagner mercenaries told the Middle East Eye that after major personnel and equipment losses were suffered in southern Ukraine, the Wagner mercenaries supported by the Russian government are increasing their efforts to recruit new members from outside Russia. "Wagner" attempted to recruit mercenaries from Turkey, Serbia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Canada, Moldova and Latin American countries, with monthly salary of up to $10,000. The recruitment targets are no longer limited to people with military experience, but tend to those who will kill without hesitation for money.
Sources said that "Wagner" has contacted organized crime groups in the EU and Latin America, such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Moldova, while recruitment is conducted through local Russian oligarchs and their middlemen who have links to local organized crime groups and are "familiar with local pro-Russian organizations, former military personnel and criminal organizations."
In the past years, "Wagner" mercenaries have been accused of abusing weapons in Syria, Libya and , and other places, violating international law. However, because of their close relationship with the Kremlin, they actually played the Kremlin's gray arm, and "Wagner" was not punished, unless they were on the battlefield.
