“Motherland, Honour, Blood, Bravery. WAGNER”, one of the posters reads.
Another, which locals said first appeared on the outskirts of the country’s fourth largest city in early July, depicts three men in military uniform next to the words “Wagner2022.org”.
The billboards, which can be seen in several Russian cities, are part of Wagner’s efforts to recruit fighters to join its ranks in Ukraine.
They also serve as a testament to the transformation the group has undergone since Moscow launched its invasion over five months ago, from a secretive mercenary organisation shrouded in mystery to an increasingly public extension of Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine.
“It looks like they have decided that they will no longer try to hide their existence. By now, everyone knows who they are,” said Denis Korotkov, a former Novaya Gazeta journalist and longtime observer of Wagner.
Wagner was established in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The US and others say it is funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman closely linked to Vladimir Putin who is under western sanctions. Prigozhin denies any links to the group.
The group has since played a prominent role fighting alongside the Russian army in support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and has been spotted in several African nations – places in which Russia holds strategic and economic interests. It has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
Despite its global reach, much of the group’s inner workings have remained a secret to the outside world.On paper, it doesn’t exist, with no company registration, tax returns or organisational chart to be found. Russia’s senior leadership, including Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly denied any connections between Wagner and the state.
Private military companies are officially banned in Russia, and the semi-legal framework mercenaries operate under has also meant that family members of deceased Wagner operatives were often pressured into silence when seeking information about their loved ones.
And while Wagner has gradually embarked on a PR campaign, with companies linked to Prigozhin funding propaganda films that glorify the deeds of “military instructors” in Africa, any mention of the group remained largely taboo in the public sphere. Journalists like Korotkov who investigated the group have been harassed for their work.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has, however, brought the group out of the dark.
At the end of March, British intelligence claimed that about 1,000 Wagner mercenaries had gone to Ukraine. The group’s role in the war appears to have since grown significantly after Moscow refocused its efforts on the east following its failure to capture the capital, Kyiv.
Wagner is believed to have played a central part in the capture of Popasna in May and Lysychansk in June, two strategically important towns that Russia largely razed to the ground during their seizure of the eastern Luhansk region. On Wednesday, British intelligence said that Wagner played a role in the capture of the giant Vuhlehirsk power plant in Ukraine’s east.
As Wagner’s role in Ukraine grew, so did its public image at home.
Not that long ago, Russian officials (up to Putin) and state media pretended that Wagner had nothing to do with the Russian state or even that it didn't exist at all
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) July 29, 2022
Today a report on the group storming 🇺🇦's second largest power station is on the front page of 🇷🇺's top tabloid pic.twitter.com/KTX6Ye0wMm
In May, Wagner received what appeared to be its first acknowledgment on state news when a correspondent alluded to it in a national broadcast, saying the army had its “own orchestra” in Ukraine.
Wagner is often referred to by its supporters and members as the “orchestra”, a reference to the German composer Richard Wagner. The group’s alleged founder, Dmitry Utkin, has been linked to the far right and is believed to have named it after Hitler’s favourite composer.
UK intelligence has also suggested that Prigozhin, who was pictured in eastern Ukraine in April, has recently been made a Hero of the Russian Federation in recognition of the group’s role in the invasion.
Last week, Wagner received its biggest recognition to date when Komsomolskaya Pravda, the country’s most widely read tabloid, published a story on the group’s storming of the Vuhlehirsk plant on its front page.
(credit: Theguardian)
