Wagner Group, Russian PMCs & Ukraine - History, motives & privatised warfare

For centuries, leaders often depended on bands of mercenary warriors to make up their military strength in times of war, but as national militaries evolved, these formations shank from prominence, with modern PMCs generally being focused on support roles like base or VIP security or logistics (even if their contracts grew massively post 2001).

Wagner doesn't follow that example. A force tens of thousands strong, Wagner has helped spearhead the Russian offensives around Bakhmut, and taken on international prominence.

In this episode, I look at the evolution of PMCs, Russia's modern employment of them, and the implications of Wagner's role in Ukraine and its public spats with the Russian MoD.

Patreon:
  / perunau  

Caveats and comments:
The usual caveats here apply, but with an extra layer of severity - Russian PMCs do not keep good, reliable public records of their activity.

All information presented should generally be considered qualified even where an appropriate words (e.g. 'reportedly') are not included.

Sources & Reading:
As a policy I do not directly link to Russian Government or Wagner materials, but this episode utilises material from telegram channels owned by or linked to both

CSIS - Russian PMCs
https://russianpmcs.csis.org/

Russian PMCs - CRS
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/row/IF11650.pdf

War on the Rocks - Russia in Libya
https://warontherocks.com/2021/01/the...

Russian State Media - Putin on the value of PMCs
https://ria.ru/20120411/623227984.html

CSIS - Wagner and the Russian State
https://www.csis.org/blogs/post-sovie...

Anna Borshchevskaya - Russian PMCs
https://www.fpri.org/wp-content/uploa...

The Conversation - On Russian PMCs
https://theconversation.com/russias-r...

Testimony on Russian PMCs
https://www.csis.org/analysis/putins-...

Serbian Police close down Racoon base
https://balkaninsight.com/2018/08/17/...

Wagner prisoner recruitment ceases
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/...

Prigozhin on ammo
https://www.rferl.org/a/prigozhin-wag...

Mangushev shot dead:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe...

"Implausible Deniability" - Carnegie Endowment
https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/06...

Decree on Gazprom - PSC
http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Docum...

Jamestown foundation - Vega Strategic Services
https://jamestown.org/program/vega-st...

Jamestown Foundation - Russian PMCs
https://jamestown.org/program/from-vo...

A deeper look at Vegacy by the Atlantic Council DFRL:
  / a-deeper-look-into-vegacy-strategic-servic...  

Wagner in Mozambique
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/1...

Wagner declared a transnational criminal organisation
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-...

Ukrainian claims RE Patriot PMC
  / 1608131037099425793  

Reporting on Wagner deployment in March 2022
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/art...

Wagner - sledgehammer execution
https://www.rferl.org/a/telegram-vagn...

Timestamps:
00:00:00 — Opening
00:03:21 — WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT
00:04:34 — MERCENARIES, PMC & VOLUNTEERS
00:06:58 — HISTORY
00:12:42 — European Golden Age: Condottieri
00:16:25 — DECLINE OF THE MERCS
00:22:35 — EVOLUTION OF RUSSIAN PMCs
00:26:04 — State Sponsorship
00:28:22 — Roles & Duties
00:36:17 — GLOBAL DEPLOYMENTS PRE-2022
00:36:34 — Syria 2015+
00:41:01 — Libya 2015+
00:42:45 — Central African Republic
00:45:04 — A Global Footprint
00:46:11 — WAGNER IN UKRAINE
00:51:25 — Understanding The Why
00:53:04 — WAGNER VS THE MINISTRY
00:53:40 — The Politics Of Wagner Success
00:58:24 — Ammunition & Recruitment
01:02:56 — Wagner Humbled?
01:04:28 — TO EVERY LORD, AN ARMY
01:04:36 — The Proliferation Of Russian PMCs
01:05:25 — Patriot & Vuhledar
01:06:16 — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
01:08:19 — War, Motives, Stability
01:10:02 — CONCLUSIONS
01:10:52 — CHANNEL UPDATE