Fwd: Fw: An Inside Look at Putin’s Brutal, Bloody Mercenaries from a War Crimes Expert

Tue Jul 29 20:36:54 UTC 2025

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: 'Robert Bolan' via Turco Int'l Issues Group <
turco-intl-issues-group at googlegroups.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Subject: Fw: An Inside Look at Putin’s Brutal, Bloody Mercenaries from a
War Crimes Expert
To: Fred's Group <turco-intl-issues-group at googlegroups.com>

Hello all,
Below is a long but interesting review of the role of Prigozhin and his
Wagner Group in Putin's Russian wars in recent years. The focus is Ukraine,
not Africa where Wagner has been active after Prigozhin was killed.

Bob

<https://substack.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.XtzwhQQAB_5YhoA4aPSZRLoIfAYlvtv_7xFQVbhlgEA?>

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An Inside Look at Putin’s Brutal, Bloody Mercenaries from a War Crimes
Expert
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=81003&post_id=169504149&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=3b34a1&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyMDAwMTk4MTcsInBvc3RfaWQiOjE2OTUwNDE0OSwiaWF0IjoxNzUzNzc5NjY0LCJleHAiOjE3NTYzNzE2NjQsImlzcyI6InB1Yi04MTAwMyIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.8n_TKMam0NodQX7JVGKjlvgj0STgnzu30HNe9yblcx4>Candace
Rondeaux’s “Putin’s Sledgehammer" chronicles the fortunes of Yevgeny
Prigozhin and the Wagner Group

JOHN SIPHER <https://substack.com/@johnsipher>
JUL 29
∙
GUEST POST
<https://substack.com/@johnsipher>

<https://substack.com/redirect/037a2d13-6efa-4a3f-a8b7-c51e6d720c7d?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>

If and when Vladimir Putin falls from power, scholars will examine several
key events for signs of his regime’s decline. Chief among them will be the
2022 invasion of Ukraine. But the most serious challenge to his rule since
1999, beside the 2012 protests against the rigged election that returned
him to the presidency, was the Wagner Group’s June 24, 2023, uprising and
march on Moscow. It exposed deep vulnerabilities in Putin’s power structure
and foreshadowed future threats from within. When that reckoning
comes, *Putin’s
Sledgehammer*, Candace Rondeaux’s compelling new book on Wagner and its
leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, will be an essential resource.

As a former KGB officer, Putin has long relied on hybrid warfare abroad and
the security services at home to suppress dissent and entrench his rule.
Early in his presidency, he turned to  Prigozhin, a trusted associate from
St. Petersburg, to build a covert military-logistics network for Kremlin
operations. The result was the Wagner Group, a shadowy force blurring the
line between state and private actors that could shield the Kremlin from
direct accountability. Over time, Wagner became more than a mercenary
outfit—it evolved into a key tool for projecting Russian power in Putin’s
confrontation with the West.

*Gray Zone*

For the first two decades of his rule, Putin sought to further weaken the
West without provoking open conflict. Wagner emerged from this strategy,
enabling low-cost, deniable operations in Syria, Ukraine, and across
Africa. Its success turned Russia into a patron of rogue regimes and helped
subvert sanctions, even as it left behind a trail of war crimes.

Putin and Prigozhin first connected in their native St. Petersburg in the
twilight of the Soviet Union. Putin had just returned from a KGB posting in
East Germany; Prigozhin had just been released from prison after serving
time for robbery and assault. After opening a Western-style grocery store,
Prigozhin expanded into restaurants, casinos, and alcohol
distribution—often with assistance from Putin, who managed business
licensing in the corrupt mayor’s office. His upscale venues attracted the
city’s elite, including organized crime figures. As Putin rose in politics,
he relied on Prigozhin to host foreign dignitaries. After catering an event
for George W. Bush in 2003, Prigozhin earned the nickname “Putin’s
chef”—and a reputation for discreet effectiveness.
<https://substack.com/redirect/c6beecac-27c3-41a6-b17b-164695511b74?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>
Yevgeny
Prigozhin at the top of his game in 2016 (Mikhail Metze/TASS).

He later proved even more useful. With deep ties to Russia’s criminal
underworld and a talent for navigating illicit networks, Prigozhin became a
go-to operator. As Putin struggled to reform Russia’s bloated military in
the mid-2000s, private military companies emerged as a workaround. Through
his Concord holding company, Prigozhin entered government contracting,
weapons smuggling, internet influence operations, and paramilitary work.
What this gave the Kremlin was a deniable instrument to project power and
evade sanctions, with fighters and proxies operating in Georgia, South
Ossetia, Abkhazia, Syria, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Mali,
Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

As his empire expanded, so did Prigozhin’s wealth—and his value to Putin.
Wagner became a sprawling enterprise, offering war on the cheap while
maintaining plausible deniability. Its fighters brought atrocities,
criminality, and assassinations in their wake—well earning Prigozhin the
“sledgehammer” sobriquet.  Meanwhile, his internet operations pioneered the
weaponization of social media for disinformation and political interference.

But it was in Ukraine that Wagner emerged from the shadows—setting the
stage for Prigozhin’s downfall.

After his army of “little green men” seized Crimea, Wagner supported
separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. Then, following the 2014 downing of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 by Russian-backed fighters, Prigozhin’s
propagandists launched aggressive misinformation campaigns and attacks on
journalists. By 2022, as Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion floundered,
Wagner became critical to battlefield operations—recruiting prisoners with
promises of freedom and pay. In reality, tens of thousands of Wagner
fighters were killed in human-wave assaults against Ukrainian defenses.
<https://substack.com/redirect/a39123a7-f5b8-45b9-a051-dfd0516ccfb0?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>
When
Putin sent Wagner Group’s “little green men” into Crimea in 2014, masked
and without unit patches, the Kremlin kept changing its story. (RFE/RL)

Over time, Prigozhin gained public prominence. That gave him a platform to
openly accuse Kremlin and military leaders of corruption and negligence.
His dramatic criticism culminated in a viral tirade blaming Defense
Minister Shoigu and Army Chief Gerasimov for mass casualties:

“And now listen to me you bastards! These are somebody’s fathers. These are
somebody’s sons. And the scumbags who are refusing us ammunition will be
eating their innards in hell…Where is the fucking ammo? You scum sit there
in your expensive clubs. Your kids are getting off on YouTube recording all
the details of their little lives…These men came here as volunteers and
they’re dying so that you can get fat in your mahogany rich offices.”

*Overreach*

While Russia’s elite viewed Prigozhin as a growing liability, his
popularity among troops and ordinary citizens surged. The conflict came to
a head in June 2023, when he ordered 25,000 fighters to march on Moscow. He
condemned the war as a sham orchestrated by corrupt elites to deceive both
Putin and the Russian people. In a strange twist, the coup appeared aimed
not at Putin himself, but at punishing those around him—on his behalf.

What followed was one of the most surreal episodes in modern Russian
history. As Wagner advanced, Russian border troops failed to stop them.
Putin stayed silent. Security officials were paralyzed. Wagner forces shot
down military aircraft sent to intercept them. Only a last-minute deal
brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stopped them just
hours from Moscow. In over two decades, Putin had never appeared so weak.

When Putin finally addressed the public, he dropped the fiction that Wagner
was independent—admitting that the state had funded the group, despite its
record of war crimes and assassinations.

Putin needed to reassert control and eliminate Prigozhin—without making him
a martyr. For months, Prigozhin continued to travel and act as Wagner’s
leader. But his usefulness to the Kremlin had come to an end: He died when
the jet he and two top aides were traveling in exploded over central
Russia. While the details remain murky, most observers believe Putin
ordered his assassination.

Rondeaux’s book is a meticulously researched and richly detailed account of
Prigozhin, Wagner, and Putin’s covert war machine. Though dense and
complex—perhaps daunting for the casual reader—her ability to illuminate
their deliberately hidden networks is striking.

A former foreign correspondent and bureau chief for The Washington Post,
who is a recognized expert
<https://substack.com/redirect/82d98e1b-d31d-4315-ba07-714ae5f0346e?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>
 on transnational crime, Rondeaux asks a pressing question: *How long can
Russia sustain its shadow army before the world demands accountability?*

Ultimately, her book is not just about Russian criminality—it is also a
critique of the West’s failure to act. Putin’s “war on the cheap,” built on
hybrid warfare and plausible deniability, has long been visible to
Washington and its closest allies. Yet Western leaders have often looked
away, unwilling to confront the atrocities, sabotage, and subversion
orchestrated by Wagner, Prigozhin, and Putin himself.

But consequences may come regardless of Western inaction. Back in the late
1980s, unprecedented domestic protests over the deaths of 15,000 Russian
soldiers in its Afghan war presaged the downfall of the Soviet Union. The
Ukraine war has claimed many multiples of that—250,000 dead and counting.
Russia’s cities and economy are unprepared to absorb tens of thousands of
returning, traumatized men. Many, including ex-convicts and addicts, may
channel their trauma into violence and unrest. Economic strain will only
worsen the reckoning.

Rondeaux’s message is clear: in Putin’s world, everyone is disposable. He
may soon find that history won’t spare him either. ###

*John Sipher retired in 2014 after a 28-year career in the CIA’s National
Clandestine Service, which included serving in Moscow and running the CIA’s
Russia operations. He is the co-founder of Spycraft Entertainment
<https://substack.com/redirect/67d138c9-bd04-4407-80e7-e04470cca26a?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>
and
co-host of the podcast, “Mission Implausible
<https://substack.com/redirect/cc06d4da-fa35-46e5-9e7e-9ad34c983a29?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>.”*

*Putin’s Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into
Mercenary Chaos
<https://substack.com/redirect/6f45e469-f07f-41bd-94ce-3622581a75fc?j=eyJ1IjoiM2IzNGExIn0.G0eDKeDRBen8UInmra7wduiBDh4ePkAU1MHUzaL37hU>
*Public
Affairs, 2025.

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