Wagner Group - The Prigozhin Legacy

 

I must admit: I haven't been moved to tears by the apparent death by plane crash of Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin  in Russia on the 23rd of this month. Some people were, obviously. Apart from his family, whom we have not seen in TV news, there have been reports of his employees in the Wagner Group creating makeshift shrines in Russian cities, as well as accounts of Wagner troops in uniform weeping publicly for their lost leader. Our old friend, Vladimir Putin, denies having ordered Prigozhin's assassination, as he has done so often for so many other murders of his critics and opponents. Prigozhin, as we know, led a Wagner mutiny against the Russian government in June this year, and, as everyone knows, Putin does not forgive what he sees as treachery. Very few people  believe Putin had nothing to do with Prigozhin's death, and I'm not one of them. Still, the Russian authorities are investigating the incident. No prizes for guessing the outcome of that inquiry.

Yes, I did write "apparent death" of Prigozhin. That is because some people think - with no evidence - that his death has been faked somehow (why?) and Yevgenny is alive and well somewhere. Whether he has perished, or simply disappeared, I want to look more closely at the activities of his employees: The Wagner Group (WG).

I had a vague idea of the activities of the Wagners, but only now that Prigozhin has met his demise, I think it of interest to assess his "legacy", some of whom are seen above. Only now, after research, am I aware of the full range of WG's activities and its terrible record of atrocities.

Founded in 2014, WG was active in the Donbas War in Ukraine. Mercenary firms are "illegal" in Russia, but Prigozhin registered it as a "private military company" in 2022 - what's in a name?

WG has been a valuable asset to Putin's government as proxies abroad, allowing it to be seen as providing some distance between it and WG's activities - to which we will come later. Deaths of WG operatives serve the very useful purpose of keeping official Russian military casualty figures low, especially in Ukraine. WG  is said to be ideologically free, but the first field commander, Dmitry Utkin, who was on the same plane as Prigozhin,  was known to be a neo-Nazi, and, as Hitler's favourite composer was Gustav Wagner, Utkin insisted on naming the Wagner Group after him. Wagner mercenaries initially came from Russia's best regular troops, and the group was thought to be about 5,000 strong .However, in 2022, Prigozhin recruited convicts to fight for Wagner in Ukraine, in exchange for pardons. At the time of the mutiny, in June, there were thought to be 25 000 in the WG. The group has also been operating in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Libya - and it is these operations we will examine.

There are roughly 1000 WG operatives in Mali, The BBC says:

"They were hired to combat armed Islamist groups, replacing the UN and French peacekeeping forces which had previously operated there. Wagner forces have clashed several times with a group linked to al-Qaeda called Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin".

On 5 April last year, Human Rights Watch published a report accusing Malian soldiers and Russian PMCs (Private Military Companies, i.e. Wagner) of executing around 300 civilians between 27 and 31 March, during an army offensive in the Mopti region, known as a hotspot of Islamic militants.

In the Central African Republic (CAR), WG operatives have conducted similar actions, leading a US-based anti-corruption organisation The Sentry to launch an investigation which found that the Wagner Group has been "perfecting a nightmarish blueprint for state capture" in the CAR to enable it to plunder the country's national resources, particularly gold and diamonds. The mineral wealth of the CAR and other African countries, you see, is helping to sustain Russia's war effort in Ukraine. As Sky.com says:

"Over the past five years, soldiers and militiamen have reportedly undergone Wagner training that has involved "ultraviolent" techniques of torture and killing, including how to cut fingers and legs, remove nails, strangle, throw fuel and burn people alive.In close cooperation with CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the Wagner Group has significant control over the nation's political and military leadership, as well as huge sway over its economy." In September 2022, The Daily Beast interviewed survivors and witnesses of a massacre committed by the Wagner Group in Bèzèrè village in December 2021, which involved torture, killing and disembowelment of a number of women, including pregnant ones. Nothing of course, to do with the Russian government, which has full deniability rights in such matters.

WG has a presence in other African countries, including Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Burkina Faso. They are also present in Syria and Venezuela. 

But, of course, the best-known arena for WG activities has been in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion. It is difficult to focus upon WG atrocities, as such crimes have been committed by Russian troops and WG. Wikipedia reports that about 300 WG operatives were sent into Ukraine in 2022 to liquidate President Zelensky and members of his government. While WG operatives were in from the beginning of the invasion, they were forced to boost their numbers and replenish casualties by recruiting convicts, direct from Russian jails. Associated Press comments:

"Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said he had recruited 50,000 convicts for Ukraine, an estimate also made by Olga Romanova, director of the prisoner rights group Russia Behind Bars. Western military officials say convicts formed the bulk of Wagner’s force there".

While this may have helped the Russian manpower problem, it has created problems on the Home Front. The offer to convicts was for them to serve six months, then, if they survived, their convictions would be quashed and they would be released - whatever their offence. CBS News comment:

" When Ivan Rossomakhin returned home from the war in Ukraine three months ago, neighbors in his village east of Moscow were terrified. Three years ago, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to a long prison term, but he was freed after volunteering to fight with the Wagner Group ...Back in Novy Burets, Rossomakhin drunkenly wandered the streets of the hamlet about 500 miles east of Moscow, carrying a pitchfork and threatening to kill everyone... he was arrested in a nearby town on charges of stabbing to death an elderly woman from whom he once rented a room. He reportedly confessed to committing the crime, less than 10 days after his return".

And, say CBS News, there are many others.

Of course, amnesty for convicts in the WG depends upon survival, and that is uncertain. Wikipedia comments:

" An interviewed former Wagner mercenary who deserted reports a high mortality rate for the prisoners recruited to fight for Wagner in Ukraine: "Once we started using prisoners, it was like a conveyor belt. A group comes—that's it, they're dead." He stopped remembering their names or call signs. "A new person shows up, survives for five minutes, and he's killed. It was like that day after day."

Andrey Medvedev, who deserted the WG in January, (it might be he in the Wikipedia quote) forecast problems for Prigozhin. Speaking to France 24, he said:

"Asked about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Medvedev said he saw him in a training centre, where he was encouraging his men by saying that the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut had already been almost conquered. The former mercenary explained that he himself expressed his disagreement and was subsequently locked up in a container for several days. Medvedev called Prigozhin "mad", saying the Wagner chief "thinks that he can do anything he wants". "Once this whole display, spectacle is over, I think that his own men will kill him," he predicted".

Now, this opens up a new possible line of inquiry! Perhaps Putin didn't order the hit on Prigozhin. Perhaps the mutinous WG chief was liquidated by his own disaffected troops?

Perhaps, perhaps not, but one thing is clear: if the Wagner group is Prigozhin's legacy for humanity, there is little need to mourn his passing, whoever may have arranged it.

Anthony Stinson: Categorising a Killer

 

As regular readers know - some would say only too well - I have an abiding interest in the all-too-common murders of innocent members of the public by mental health patients. And there are far too many, as I have recorded and the "100 Families" website has meticulously catalogued for a number of years. For this reason, I took an interest in the horrific killing of the young lady in the photo above: Charlotte Wilcock. 

In previous posts on this topic, I have been truly shocked by details of the murderous attacks. The cases of Nicola Edgington and Jonty Bravery spring to mind, but nothing matches the horror of the unprovoked attack on Charlotte Wilcock in Blackburn on March 3rd, by  31-year old Anthony Stinson.

The details of the attack, related briefly, are staggering in their horror. As the BBC says: 

"Anthony Stinson, 31, kicked and stamped on Charlotte Wilcock at her Blackburn home just after 21:00 GMT on 3 March before stabbing her multiple times."

Exactly how long this assault lasted is unclear, but Charlotte was left with about 100 injuries, including many wounds to her hands from where she attempted to defend herself. Even by writing these sparse details, I felt a sudden chill. Ms Wilcock had been peacefully smoking a cigarette, sat on her front doorstep, when Stinson, a passer-by, had launched his attack. As the Lancashire Telegraph says:

"The pair had never met before that night, and Stinson then continued the attack inside the address, eventually leaving her body behind the front door".

Ms Wilcock's 15-month baby daughter was asleep upstairs and was not found until next day.

When I first stumbled across this story, I assumed that Stinson was yet another psychotic killer who should have been sectioned under the mental health acts. In fact, after his arrest, that was the tenor of his defence. Lancashire Police said Stinson changed his clothing and buried Charlotte's phone after the attack, before walking away and using a passer-by's phone to call the police. When interviewed, he claimed to have had a psychotic episode and - perhaps significantly - seen the devil. In fact, he said that he thought Charlotte was the devil. The BBC comments: "a defence he maintained until the first day of his trial, when he changed his plea to guilty after psychiatric reports failed to support his claims".

I found this remarkable. After all, surely his unprovoked attack on a complete stranger indicated mental disturbance - didn't it? Apparently not. An hour before the attack, Stinson recorded a rap video, in which he and a friend described killing someone. And, as the Manchester Evening News says:

"CCTV footage also showed that just 15 minutes earlier, he had been well enough to make conversation with a local shopkeeper while buying alcohol and cigarettes".

Assuming Stinson's defence was calculated, and he was not undergoing a psychotic episode, then what motivated such a horrific crime? How else can we explain it? Stinson had been taking drugs and was drunk, but that is neither an explanation or an excuse. As the Lancashire Telegraph says:

"Despite Stinson telling police he saw the devil that night, doctors could find no determinate underlying mental health conditions to back up his claims, save from delusions brought on by cocaine use".

Perhaps we need to know more about him, and that's worth looking at in detail.

Stinson, a former chef, has a history of violent, disturbing crime. In 2013, aged 21, he raped a teenage girl as she slept after a house party.
In April 2014 he was sentenced to five years in prison for the attack.
Stinson pleaded not guilty to this offence, but in an act that would be replicated some 10 years later, he changed his plea on the day of his trial, admitting to what he had done.
 In 2019, he was spared jail for throttling his new partner.
In April 2019, Preston Crown Court heard how on two separate occasions, he attempted to strangle his partner, following arguments which happened after evenings of heavy drinking.
At the time of those assaults, Stinson also headbutted a window belonging to a cinema, causing £265 of damage. Perhaps he didn't like the movie?
The couple remained together despite the victim telling him she wanted to end the relationship, but on February 3, Stinson once again tried to strangle his partner.
For this, Stinson was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years. He was ordered to attend a six-month alcohol treatment programme, complete 15 of rehabilitation activity requirement days, attend the building better relationships programme and pay £265 compensation to the cinema.
Prior to killing Charlotte on March 3, Stinson had 11 convictions, comprising 26 offences.
His suspended sentence for the assault on his partner ended in April 2021, just two years before he carried out his attack on Charlotte.

It's difficult to categorise this kind of behaviour, even more difficult to prescribe a remedy. Stinson is clearly a violent man, with a propensity towards violence against women. Put (very) simplistically: is he mad or is he evil?

Whatever we think, we can breathe easily at the fact that he has been sentenced to 24 years and two months. He will be 55, if and when he gets out. Assuming, of course, that he isn't released early on licence like Colin Pitchfork. 

Charlotte Wilcock will not see 55. Her two children will grow up without her, and her family will mourn her loss for the rest of their lives. As Charlotte's mum, Carole Smalley, quoted in the Manchester Evening News, said after Stinson was sentenced:

"I loved her deeply and miss her terribly," Ms Smalley said. "I don’t think the feeling of loss and missing her will ever stop. I often think that I may be slowly moving forward and then I will hear a certain song or there will be a familiar smell and I am right back where I started with the most intense feelings of grief and sadness as I realise that she has gone forever."

Speaking, yet again, on behalf of all readers of this blog, I send condolences to the family of Charlotte Wilcock.

As for Anthony Stinson, he remains uncategorised.

Lee Anderson, Double Standards and TTH

 I have to thank Nick Ferrari and his team at LBC. At 7.00 am, I was listening to Nick's programme. He was discussing Lee Anderson's use of the F-word about migrants refusing to take up residence on the Bibby Stockholm barge. As we know, Mr Anderson uttered these edifying words:

“If they don’t like barges then they should f*** off back to France,"

As I would have expected, the calls to Nick Ferrari were generally supportive of Anderson, but I decided to make a contribution by way of a text message. To my surprise, Nick Ferrari read it out on air. A surprise indeed, as mine was one of the few contributions that did not support 30p Lee's outburst. I said this:

"If any further proof were needed that the Tory party has changed into UKIP, 30p Lee's outburst proves it conclusively"

I have to admit, I was pleased with that, as all the other callers were giving Anderson fulsome praise, so I was glad to sound a note of dissent. And indeed, Anderson's remark is the type of comment I'd expect to hear from a UKIP, English Defence League or National Front member. 

So - how has it been received in wider politics?  Natasha Tsangarides of Freedom from Torture said: “Time and time again, we’re seeing Government ministers amping up the cruelty of their anti-refugee rhetoric to distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of both the asylum system and of this country. The dehumanising and inflammatory language used by certain politicians is putting people seeking sanctuary in this country at real risk.”

Senior Tories, however, have rallied round their Vice Chairman. As the Independent says:

 Justice secretary Alex Chalk defended his colleague Mr Anderson’s “f*** off back to France” comment – arguing that it was “salty” language but his point was “not unreasonable”.

Chalk told LBC that Anderson “expresses the righteous indignation of the British people” and said his “indignation is well placed”.

But what of the Prime Minister? Was he not shocked at this senior party official using an obscenity in public? Er... not quite. Downing Street endorsed Chalk's defence of Anderson, saying: “The justice secretary was speaking on behalf of the government. That is the response."

Which leads me to the "double standards" and the "TTH" of the title. This whole disgraceful affair has shown yet again, how, according to this government, there is one rule for Tory MPs and another for the rest of us. Had a Labour or LibDem politician uttered this obscenity in public, the Prime Minister, cabinet and the whole Tory Party would have been simmering with outrage, calling for the miscreant to be hounded out of Parliament. No sign of that. Instead, we have seen what I call "TTH" - Typical Tory Hypocrisy. 

What a shame that Keir Starmer is not leading the call for such measures to be taken against Mr Anderson. As "The National" says:

"Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s home affairs spokesperson, said: “Keir Starmer's silence on Lee Anderson’s despicable comments speaks volumes for the state of the Labour Party.
It shouldn't be so difficult for Keir Starmer to call out this shameful and racist language. But as we have seen too often, Keir Starmer seems incapable of doing the right thing"

I don't want to get bogged down in the details of the Bibby Stockholm barge and its facilities. Tabloid journalist, Carol Malone was making a major issue of it (shouting like a fishwife - no disrespect to fishwives) on the Jeremy Vine TV programme this morning. Rather, I think I discern a wider issue emerging. From the Evening Standard: 

"Labour MP Rupa Huq accused the Tories of “desperate gutter politics”, adding it “looks like they are trying to regain their reputation as the nasty party”.

Rupa Huq's words could well be prescient. The number of calls to LBC and Jeremy Vine this morning showed that there is a bigoted, anti-migrant section of opinion out there, who really believe they are part of a majority in this country. This "lobby", if they deserve that term, range from people who want to stop "illegal" immigration to the extreme Right who want to expel all minorities from our shores. As the Tories will enter the next election with absolutely nothing to boast about, becoming the Nasty Party towards migrants might be worth their while. Instead of focussing on real issues, scapegoating may be seen as a way to attract votes - rather like during the Brexit campaign. In other words, the Conservative Party could become a sort of diluted National Front.

The next General Election campaign could be very nasty indeed. 

Lee Anderson has expressed no remorse for his foul-mouthed outburst. The leading anti-fascist organisation, Hope not Hate, has issued this statement:

"Words have consequences. HOPE not hate has recorded a huge increase in far-right anti-migrant activity. When will the Government recognise their language matters?
The Conservative Party is rapidly adopting dangerous and divisive tactics. This has to be challenged".

Agreed.