To fill the Wagner gap
Putin is said to use Chechens and convicts
07/05/2023 12:17 p.m
With the withdrawal of the Wagner mercenaries, Russia is apparently missing soldiers at the front. According to one report, several units are already being relocated. In order to avoid full-scale military mobilization, President Putin appears to be resorting to tried and true practices.
Russia is preparing to send more Chechen fighters and convicts to Ukraine. This is to fill in the gaps left by the Wagner mercenaries who were withdrawn from the battlefield. that reports”Bloomberg‘ citing European intelligence officials.
Russia sent a large number of troops to Bakhmut after Wagner announced his withdrawal from the city at the end of May. This in turn is said to have led to bottlenecks in the occupied areas in southern Ukraine. Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s uprising has deprived the Russian armed forces of some of their most battle-hardened troops in Ukraine. The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, told Ukrainska Pravda news agency that the group was “the most efficient Russian entity capable of achieving success at any cost”.
After the uprising ended, President Vladimir Putin gave the mercenaries three options: exile in Belarus, return to their home countries, and join the Russian army. It is not known how many have finally signed up. According to Ukraine, the Wagner fighters will not return to the battlefield in significant numbers. According to Prigozhin, 20,000 of the 50,000 mercenaries have already fallen in Ukraine – including a large number of prisoners that Wagner was able to recruit through lower classification criteria.
“Tiktok battalions” from Chechnya
Many of the offenders are said to have already returned home. This was reported by Prigozhin in mid-June. 32,000 men would have fulfilled their contract and commitment in the fighting. The Wagner boss also saw military service as a major rehabilitation program. According to Prigoshin, those released subsequently committed only 83 crimes. That is 80 times fewer crimes than those who were released after serving their sentence.
Wagner’s withdrawal has so far had little impact on the course of the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s determination to avoid full-scale military mobilization would mean Russia is likely to send more Chechens and prisoners to the front lines in the coming weeks, European officials said.
How many Chechens are ready is unclear. Pro-Putin leader Ramzan Kadyrov said via Telegram in May that 7,000 of his soldiers were already in Ukraine and another 2,400 were being trained for two new Defense Ministry regiments. The Chechen fighters have not been particularly effective in this war so far. Some critics gave them the nickname “Tiktok Battalions” because they appear to be more active on social media than in combat.
They revealed their positions via social media posts. According to the Institute for the Study of War, however, it can also be seen from their positions that Kadyrov is reluctant to use his armed forces for comprehensive offensive operations. Over the past year, Chechen units have been deployed mainly in the rear of the operations.