American intelligence officials say that the Wagner Group, known by the nickname of the retired Russian officer who leads it, is in Syria to seize oil and gas fields and protect them on behalf of the Assad government. A team of about 30 Delta Force soldiers and Rangers from the Joint Special Operations Command were working alongside Kurdish and Arab forces at a small dusty outpost next to a Conoco gas plant, near the city of Deir al-Zour. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. Kremlin-linked private military group posted video on Telegram of apparent execution in Russia of Yevgeny Nuzhin. In another part of the video that originally surfaced in 2017, the four men laugh to a soundtrack of Russian rock music as they use a sledgehammer to crush the hand of a man shown pinned to the ground wearing bloodied civilian clothes in what appears to be an industrial zone. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. A U.S. military convoy drives on a Syrian highway on September 29, 2017. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? U.S. forces clashed with pro-Syrian government forces, the majority of which are believed to have been Russian mercenaries, in Syrias Deir Ezzor province in 2018. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. One allied Syrian fighter was wounded. A CAR radio station,Lengo Sengo, was also sanctioned on charges of spreading disinformation on Wagner's behalf. The day began with little hint of the battle that was about to unfold. At some point in late March or early April, he escaped on foot from the T4 air base in Homs. "Fontanka" named the name of another alleged participant in the brutal execution in Syria Ok-Manner1919 1 yr. ago This is a great video for those who don't want to see the gore but wanna know what the video looks like. The military dependence of the CAR administration on Wagner has translated into a very influential political role for the mercenary organization," the report said. Its mercenaries have also fought in Ukraine and the Central African Republic, and are said to be active in Libya, Sudan and Mozambique. Wagner's fighters appeared in Libya in April 2019 when they joined the forces of a rebel general, Khalifa Haftar, after he launched an attack on the UN-backed Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. New Report Exposes Brutal Methods of Russias Wagner Group, Click + to receive email alerts for new stories written by, The perpetrators, who have not yet been charged, were, Close to Russian government but nominally independent, private military contractors give the Kremlin a degree of plausible deniability and have complicated efforts by Western policymakers to formulate a response. Bouta was born in August 1986 in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor in a village not far from where one of his alleged assailants, Vlaidslav Apostol, was killed only months after beating Bouta with a sledgehammer. The number of casualties from the Feb. 7 fight is in dispute. After the first video was anonymously posted in June 2017 three more were posted in November 2019 and began circulating widely on Russian social media platforms. In September, Prigozhin, known as Putins chef because his catering business hosted dinners attended by the Russian president, admitted to founding Wagner, a link he has previously repeatedly denied. It wasnt until November 2019, when further videos emerged, that journalists were able to identify the perpetrators as well as the victim. U.N. investigators and rights groups say Wagner troops have targeted civilians, conducted mass executions and looted private property in conflict zones. In the past month, the number of Wagner troops in the country has more than tripled to over 1,000. Subscribers can send in questions in advance. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. This has absolutely no relation to Russian soldiers, no matter what is being published about it, said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin. WebPosted by 2 days ago. Novaya Gazeta called on Russian law enforcement to investigate the case. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. "Yet, [private military companies] also pose substantial risks for a regime determined to keep a lid on domestic outcry over its military adventurism and to manage blowback," the report said. While it is not clear whether U.S authorities would pursue further sanctions against Prigozhin, Timchenko, or any of the other entities implicated in reporting and legal filings on Boutas case the facts certainly suggest that American investigators in Washington will be tracking its outcome closely. The most pointed criticisms of the war are coming from those charged with fighting it. Wagner has repeatedly been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses, including of the torture and slaying of prisoners in Syria, where it has been fighting alongside the Russian army and the government of Bashar al-Assad. Thousands of Russian contractors fought in Syria alongside a 2015 military intervention by Putin that helped turn the tide in the countrys civil war and saved the government of Bashar al-Assad. Prigozhin, who had been charged by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller in early 2018, was slapped with new U.S. Treasury Department sanctions on September 30, in an announcement that also included photographs of three jets and a 122-foot yacht that purportedly belongs to Prigozhin or his companies. A disturbing clip of an execution in Syria has prompted a Russian newspaper to investigate links between the torturers and the shadowy Wagner Group. The lawsuit marks the first known attempt to bring to account anyone linked to the highly secretive network of covert operators financed and managed by close inner-circle associates of President Vladimir Putin. By one estimate from Harvard University, more than 130,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or severely wounded, in addition to the deaths of more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians. These soldiers are likely to be used as cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses, he has said. They would face asset freezes and a travel ban. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. Tonight, his family announced they had received news of his death under torture in Sednaya Prison. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. For its part, Washington has made a series of policy choices over the last few years that can be summed Show moreup as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. Lost in the desert, he appears to have sought refuge in al-Shaer gas field, where he was later tortured and killed. The men responsible for murdering Bouta are believed to have worked for EvroPolis, a company that exemplifies the way organizations within the network have blended business and warfare. Among the EU's latest package of Russian sanctions, members of the Wagner Group mercenary company were included for alleged crimes committed in Africa. But the Russian government has preferred to keep Wagners actions obscured, even hiding preparations for funerals when members of the private military company have been killed abroad. Delivered Monday-Saturday. U.S. officials warned that the group was recruiting Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine. It was not immediately clear who was behind the video, or how Nuzhin would have ended up back in Russia. And at a minimum, squaring off in crowded battlefields has added to heightened tensions between Russia and the United States as they each seek to exert influence in the Middle East. What is the Wagner Group? Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. Mazen Darwish, one of several human rights activists pressing for justice in Boutas case and director general of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, said that Russian authorities have about 40 days to respond to the initial court filing. None of the Americans at the small outpost in eastern Syria about 40 by the end of the firefight were harmed. The Novaya Gazeta report added more clarity to an incident that prompted anger and confusion when evidence of it first surfaced. Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. Mr. Utkin is said to have chosen Wagner to honor the composer, who was a favorite of Hitlers. Wagner Group hired guns hammer a deserter to death Videotaped and shown on the internet, execution is a flesh-and-blood metaphor for the botched Ukraine invasion by Daniel Williams November 17, 2022 Print Yevgeny Nuzhin is pictured alive, before his executioner smashed his skull with a sledgehammer. The shaky cell phone footage taken at al-Shaer gas plant near Palmyra, Syria, shows a Syrian man, who was known to friends and family as Hamdi Bouta, lying on the ground, surrounded by Russian-speaking men in military fatigues. Three Wagner Group mercenaries are alleged by Ukrainian prosecutors to have killed and tortured civilians near Kyiv in April 2022, alongside regular Russian troops. Late last November, videos of a gruesome killing went viral on Russian social networks. Russia The shaky cell phone footage taken at al-Shaer gas plant near Palmyra, Syria, More ways to stay updated on global news: By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Delivered Monday-Friday. The researchers social network analysis also revealed substantial cross-affiliation with Rusich, a Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has operated in eastern Ukraine. The reaction team sped toward the fight. The documents described the fighters as a pro-regime force, loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Marine rocket artillery was fired from the ground. But Medvedev said he wasn't afraid. He said Russia seemed to be turning to them to bolster its troops in the east of Ukraine because the group already had experience fighting in the Donbas region for the past eight years. Novikov said that Novaya Gazeta asked the Investigative Committee to open an inquiry into the murder, but the committee ignored the request. New Report Exposes Brutal Methods of Russias Wagner Group. FPs Ravi Agrawal spoke with two of the very best Russia experts:Angela Stent, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author ofPutins World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest, and Michael Kofman, the research program director of the Russia studies program at the Center for Naval Analyses. In Syria, A Mutilated Corpse, Video Evidence, And New Scrutiny EvroPolis was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2018 for being owned or controlled by Prigozhin. Having first appeared in 2014 in eastern Ukraine, where Wagner fighters trained and fought alongside separatist rebels against the Ukrainian army, the groups operatives have since cropped up everywhere from Venezuela to the Central African Republic, Syria, and Libya. up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. With Russia suffering heavy losses, according to U.S. intelligence, Mr. Putin is sending battle-hardened reinforcements with experience into Ukraine, according to experts, including Jeremy Fleming, the director of Britains electronic surveillance agency. In Syria, A Mutilated Corpse, Video Evidence, And New Scrutiny For Russian Mercenaries. In the days leading up to the attack, and on opposite sides of the Euphrates River, Russia and the United States were backing separate offensives against the Islamic State in Syrias oil-rich Deir al-Zour Province, which borders Iraq. In leaked documents, he wrote that he joined Wagner in 2016 to protect the interests of the Russian Federation abroad. Alexander Malkevich, whose employees were detained in Libya, is part of Moscows efforts to create a concert of chaos around the globe. It was unclear, however, whether that case would move forward after federal prosecutors working under the Trump administration dropped charges against Prigozhins St. Petersburg-based firm Concord Consulting and Management in connection with the case. A father of four from Syrias Deir Ezzor governorate, Bouta travelled to Lebanon in 2016 in search of work in the construction industry as large swaths of the region came under Islamic State control. The Paris-based Syrian investigative news site Jesr Press was able to piece together the most detailed account of Boutas life and how he came to be captured by Russian mercenaries. Their shadowy existence allows Russia to downplay its battlefield casualties and distance itself from atrocities committed by Wagner fighters, observers say. A organizao teria sido fundada por volta de 2014, na Rssia, seu lder atual o ex-oficial do exrcito russo Dmitriy "Wagner" Valeryevich Utkin. video Russia's notorious Wagner group admits to recruiting Zambian inmate who died fighting in Ukraine Prigozhin above all is a sharp-eyed opportunist. The Kremlin said on Thursday it had no knowledge of the incident. Prigozhin, who is under western sanctions for his role in Wagner, on Sunday voiced his approval for the killing, calling Nuzhin a traitor. It sheds new light on the networks operations and reveals how the killing became a rallying point for Russian ultranationalists online. In the American air operations center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and at the Pentagon, confounded military officers and intelligence analysts watched the scene unfold. which was captured on video at the Bouta is believed to have been killed in the spring of 2017, and a video of his death first emerged online in June 2017. The mercenaries loosely coordinate with the Russian military in Syria, although Wagners leaders have reportedly received awards in the Kremlin, and its mercenaries are trained at the Russian Defense Ministrys bases. Mourning has consumed Xinjiang scholars for a region they can no longer reach. Last month, the FBI placed Prigozhin on its Most Wanted list in connection with his alleged role in interfering in American elections in 2016 and 2018, offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest The U.S. government has also sanctioned Prigozhin for his alleged ties to Russian mercenaries affiliated with the Wagner Group. Commanders of the rival militaries had long steered clear of the other by speaking through often-used deconfliction telephone lines. The open source investigation team Bellingcat also said it had identified the same person. The case is being lodged jointly by lawyers and advocates associated with Darwishs organization, the Memorial Human Rights Center in Moscow, and the International Federation for Human Rights in Paris. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any connections to Russian private military security contractors operating in Syria. Ilya Nuzhin, Yevgenys son, confirmed to the Guardian on Monday that the man in the video was his father but declined to give further comments, citing security concerns. And how might that be impacting the world? The outcome of the battle, and much of its mechanics, suggest that the Russian mercenaries and their Syrian allies were in the wrong part of the world to try a simple, massed assault on an American military position. Ukraine had a responsibility towards Nuzhin and he should have not been exchanged, given the dangers he faced in Russia.. The legal case in Moscow turns on four separate video clips depicting several Russian-speaking men beating, decapitating, and burning a badly mutilated man at the al-Shaer gas plant, a central node in a multimillion-dollar joint oil and gas deal forged between the Syrian government owned General Petroleum Corporation and Stroytransgaz, a Russian state-run hydrocarbon engineering firm headed by Gennady Timchenko, a longtime Putin associate. [20] [29] [30]Utkin um veterano da Primeira e Segunda Guerra na Chechnia.At 2008 ou 2013, Utkin fez parte da Spetsnaz (foras especiais) do GRU onde chegou a patente de tenente-coronel Contacted by Novaya Gazeta, relatives and friends of the Russian man, named as Stanislav D., either did not respond or denied any affiliation with him. "I'm at risk. Aircraft across the region were placed on alert, military officials said. Vagner and other Russian private military companies have helped advance Moscow's influence efforts in regions beyond the Middle East, targeting countries that are often rich with natural resources and vulnerable to political influence from the outside. Allegations of the Wagner Groups involvement in the torture and murder of al-Abdullah, who is better known by his nicknames, Hamdi or Hamadi Bouta, first emerged in June 2017 when a two-minute long video clip of the killing surfaced in an anonymous post on a Reddit subchannel popular with military geeks. Russias Wagner Group have as much power in Kremlin as ministers, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Ahrar Houran, which he helped to found, confirmed the news. Nuzhin betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed consciously, he said. Journalists, open-source researchers, and other observers have tracked Russian military companies to operations in the Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Libya. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. His wife, according to the newspaper, deactivated her social media account when she received follow-up questions from its reporter. He married and started a family. Two years after the United States clashed with some sort of Wagner Group contingent in Deir Ezzor, the United States government still doesnt know anything about the organizational structure of these military contingents, Rondeaux said. They inspected their weapons and ensured the trucks were loaded with anti-tank missiles, thermal optics and food and water. But, a federal arrest warrant issued for Prigozhin in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 16 would seem to indicate renewed interest at the Department of Justice in seeing Prigozhin brought to account. Anyone can read what you share. What government officials are saying in public, and private, is fascinatingand full of contradictions. They are the Swiss Army knives of modern Russian warfare and serve as force multipliers, arms merchants, trainers of local military and security personnel, and political consultants, according to a recent. Some of the Green Berets and Marines took aim from exposed hatches. Is the United States becoming protectionist? Opponents of the dark money paramilitary outfit hope an attack through the courtswhich they expect to take all the way to European Court of Human Rightswill expose the scale of the abuses carried out by the shadowy forces used to conceal the Kremlins off-the-books military adventures all over the world. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. Is Weiss correct? to the research by Frontline Forensics, which was published by New America. An hour later, the enemy fighters had started to retreat and the American troops stopped firing. The United States troops on the ground, now roughly 40 in all, braced their defenses as the mercenaries left their vehicles and headed toward the outpost on foot. Investigative paper wants atrocities of alleged Russian mercenaries in Syria probed after graphic VIDEO The mercenaries earn of a share of the production proceeds from the oil fields they reclaim, officials said. Click + to receive email alerts for new stories written by Between 200 to 300 fighters were killed in the battle, including scores of Russian mercenaries, to be working in the region to seize control of a nearby gas plant on behalf of EvroPolis. Footage of the summary killing of Yevgeny Nuzhin was posted over the weekend by the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone. Expanding Influence The Defense Ministry denied any Russian uniformed personnel were killed. At 1 a.m., with the artillery fire dwindling, the team of Marines and Green Berets pulled up to the Conoco outpost and began firing. Syrias government controls oil, gas, and mineral production and export, and Syrias General Petroleum Company sets strategy for exploration and development and supervises national subsidiaries, including the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) and Syrian Gas Company (SGC). In addition to their involvement in Syria, Libya, Central African Republic and Ukraine, Wagner operatives have also fought in Sudan, Mali and Mozambique, exerting Russian influence by proxy, doing the bidding of authoritarian leaders and, at times, seizing oil and gas fields or securing other material interests. "I'm convinced this has nothing to do with the Russian military operation in Syria," Peskov told reporters. Unconfirmed reports said Nuzhin had been part of a recent Russian-Ukrainian prisoner exchange, news that has led to concerns among human rights groups. Wagner expanded to Syria in 2015, tasked with bolstering President Bashar al-Assad and seizing oil and gas fields, American officials said. After working for a time in Lebanon, Bouta decided to return to his family in Deir Ezzor. The reports revelations have chilling implications, as Russian mercenaries motivated by both money and far-right ideology are increasingly operating unchecked in some of the worlds most fragile countries. The Wagner Group is a mercenary firm that has been heavily involved in the fighting in Ukraine. The Paris-based Syrian investigative news site, Want to read more on this topic or region? Visitors wearing military camouflage at the Wagner Centre office building in St Petersburg. Apostols family have reportedly confirmed that he worked as a private security contractor in Syria, and that he was one of several hundred Russians killed in a U.S. airstrike in the northeastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor. Wagner .. On the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution last year, a complaint against the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner was filed in When the civil war began, he traveled to Lebanon to find construction work after the situation in Syria deteriorated and large parts of Deir Ezzor came under ISIS control, according to an account of Boutas final days given to lawyers by his family. Syrian fighters who support the government of President Bashar al-Assad at a hospital in the eastern city of Deir-al Zour in February. A video of a second apparent execution using a sledgehammer was posted by a Wagner-linked blogger on Monday. Mali's ruling junta last year forced French troops out of the country soon after committing a coup and welcomed in Wagner forces. Captured wounded fighters of Russias Wagner mercenary group: Ilya, 30, left, and Mikhail, 35, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Monday. If Putin had hoped to weaken NATO, the very opposite has happened, with Finland and Sweden on the cusp of joining the transatlantic military alliance. One person sanctioned by the EU was described as "the security advisor" to PresidentFaustin Archange-Touadera. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In 2018, American authorities filed criminal charges against Prigozhin for alleged financial ties to the internet troll farm accused of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. By early evening, more than 500 troops and 27 vehicles including tanks and armored personnel carriers had amassed. A handful of Marines ran ammunition to machine guns and Javelin missile launchers scattered along the berms and wedged among the trucks. The other two Wagner-affiliated individuals sanctioned were suspected of war crimes in Ukraine, after reports of the organization having to move some of its fighting forces from African countries like Libya and Sudan to reinforce closer to Russia in recent months. Right now in Syria, were in the most aggressive E.W. Bouta is believed to have been killed in the spring of 2017, and a video of his death first emerged online in June 2017. Nuzhin, 55, had been serving a 24-year prison sentence for a murder he committed in 1999 when he was freed in July and conscripted into Wagner, a notorious military group run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful Russian businessman and a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Close to Russian government but nominally independent, private military contractors give the Kremlin a degree of plausible deniability and have complicated efforts by Western policymakers to formulate a response. The companies hit by sanctions included gold and diamond mining operations in the CAR and Sudan. The newspaper also offered to hand over materials acquired to Russian law enforcement. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Pretoria on Monday for talks with one of Moscow's most important allies in Africa. Known colloquially as the Wagner Group, the contingent has been linked to a network of Russian firms that U.S. and European authorities say are financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a key player in Putins inner circle known as Putins chef. Although the Wagner Group has been implicated in several violations of international law, including skirting a UN arms embargo in Libya, the Moscow legal filing on Boutas case marks the first time that any official complaint has been brought in court against the private security contingent in connection with an alleged war crime. The video published by Novaya Gazeta appears to be just one instalment of a series of clips that record the same incident at the hands of Russian-speaking fighters, including the victim's torture, mutilation, and, ultimately, decapitation. WebAmerican intelligence officials say that the Wagner Group, known by the nickname of the retired Russian officer who leads it, is in Syria to seize oil and gas fields and protect them .. On the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution last year, a complaint against the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner was filed in Russian courts, the first case ever brought against the group. A 2017 video posted online showed a group of armed people, reported to be Wagner contractors, torturing a Syrian man, beating him to death with a sledgehammer and cutting his head before mutilating and then burning his body. Jessica Chen Weiss, formerly a senior advisor for policy planning at the State Department under the Biden administration, makes the case that the United States is becoming consumed by competition with China, a strategy that could lead to dangerous conflict. Then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo told Congress that a "a couple hundred Russians" were killed in the attack. Theywere Wagner commanders said to be linked to Russia's capture of the town of Soledar in Ukraine in January. While mercenary groups are outlawed within Russia, they have served as the tip of the spear of the Kremlins proxy wars abroad. Increasingly, theyve become more formalized and have started acting more like Western military contractors. Wagner is estimated to have as many as 2,500 men in Syria. Two years after the United States clashed with some sort of Wagner Group contingent in Deir Ezzor, the United States government still doesnt know anything about the organizational structure of these military contingents, Rondeaux said. There is now little doubt that Putin failed in his initial goals: Kyiv is still Show morestanding, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. And wedged among the trucks were loaded with anti-tank missiles, thermal optics and and... Government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria that journalists were able to identify the as! And the American troops stopped firing Soledar in Ukraine in January the torturers the..., economics, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video clarity to incident. Brutal Methods of Russias Wagner group is a mercenary firm that has to... 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