A former agent of the Russian private military company Wagner, also a former member of the Russian army, Marat Gabidullin, 55, made revelations, with an open face, to AFP on the exercise of the Russian paramilitaries, and pleaded for the end of Russian interventions abroad.
Referring to his various missions abroad, as a Russian paramilitary, Gabidullin, who joined Wagner in 2015, said he took part, among others, in operations in Ukraine and Syria, from this year of membership to 2019. He described the daily life of Wagner’s fighters who are sometimes the victim of deception about the missions to be carried out.
He himself would keep bad memories. He is said to have left his first assignment in Ukraine “frustrated and disappointed” at the “deception of the noble cause which spoke of defending the interests of Russia”. For ethical reasons, this former agent preferred to leave the company.
The former agent presents Wagner as “a kind of small army” which includes, in addition to professionals, “patented mercenaries”, “romantics” who want to “rub shoulders with war” and sometimes former convicts, banished from the regular army. Its objectives vary according to the missions and the situation on the ground.
To inflate its workforce, the private company promises salaries presented as higher than those they could earn in Russia (between 1,500 and 2,200 euros depending on the missions).
Gabidullin believes that Russia should stop its interventions abroad to focus on its internal problems, although Moscow still maintains that it has no connection with Wagner. According to this former soldier, Russia’s use of mercenaries, a practice officially prohibited in the country, is “proven, irrefutable”.
These revelations should comfort Western countries and the UN, which continue to question the abuses of Russian paramilitaries in the countries where they are on mission. In Africa, these Wagner agents are present in the Central African Republic and Mali.
By OMA Newsletter N° 701 of 13/05/2022
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