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

Tue Jul 29 22:02:01 UTC 2025

Sure dude Putin was about to fall. They I have a great investment plan for you.

> On Jul 29, 2025, at 4:36 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ---------- 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?>
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 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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