Wagner Group Accused of Making Russian Soldiers Disappear

BY MAURA ZURICK ON 4/12/23 AT 11:42 PM EDT

A destroyed tank is pictured in the Russian-controlled town of Severodonetsk in the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine on January 24, 2023. The Russian mercenary Wagner Group is accused of making 100 Russian troops disappear after they refused to sign contracts to join the group.
STRINGER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES 

The Wagner Group, despite fighting alongside Russian forces, is accused of making 100 Russian soldiers disappear after they refused to sign contracts with the notorious mercenaries.

Wagner, a private military company founded by Russian financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been accused repeatedly of war crimes. The group garnered international scrutiny after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Wagner forces have fought alongside the Kremlin's troops, playing a vital role in helping Russia's attempt to seize the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

According to Wednesday's assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), members of the Wagner Group have reportedly made 100 Russian forces disappear and they have been unaccounted for since Friday.

"Russian sources reported that Russian forces transferred the 100 personnel to an unspecified training ground in Luhansk Oblast after the Wagner Group threatened them with violence for refusing to sign contracts on April 7," the assessment read.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Defense via email Wednesday.

One of the Russian soldiers was purportedly able to speak to relatives before disappearing, according to messaging website Telegram. His phone call was translated via Google Translate:

"They are already driving us under automatic weapons, that's all, pressure has begun here. Representatives of PMC 'Wagner' arrived with weapons, about 30 of them. Now (us) will simply be twisted, twirled, they want to take us to some kind of landfill," the soldier said to family in a phone conversation. "We have been depersonalized, there are no military men, people with weapons have been brought in, and phones, as I understand it, will be taken away, and we will not be able to get in touch."

The Wagner Group's actions during the battle of Bakhmut have sparked outcry on social media. Its forces were once again accused of war crimes after videos surfaced showing the remains of a Ukrainian soldier's head on a spike at an unspecified area of Bakhmut.

Wagner mercenaries have also been accused of human rights violations in other countries, including Mali, where the United Nations (U.N.) called for an investigation into possible international crimes. Some of the crimes alleged by the U.N. include "alarming accounts of horrific executions, mass graves, acts of torture, rape and sexual violence, pillaging, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances."

The White House designated the Wagner Group as a transitional criminal organization, The New York Times reported.

Tensions between the Wagner leader and Russian political hierarchy have reached a tipping point in recent months. Prigozhin, a once-close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been increasingly critical of the Kremlin. An oligarch formerly known as "Putin's chef," Prigozhin has his eye on political ambitions and has become a source of discord among the Kremlin hierarchy.

Prigozhin has riffed on the Russian defense ministry for not supplying his troops with enough ammunition and blasted top Putin officials for trying to "destroy" the Wagner Group, which is believed to have sustained massive casualties in recent months. In February, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wagner had suffered more than 30,000, with about half of those killed in just 1 1/2 months of battle.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-accused-making-russian-soldiers-disappear-1794082