Jonathan Bhagan
As of the time of writing this column, the Wagner Group has cancelled its planned march on Moscow to avoid spilling blood. On June 24, it looked like Russia was about to experience a coup that could oust Vladimir Putin from power or plunge the country into years of turmoil.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was one of Vladimir Putin’s closest advisers, heads the Wagner Group. Prigozhin is rumoured to have profited from hundreds of tonnes of gold being extracted from African nations such as Sudan and Mali, these profits are then reinvested to fight the War in Ukraine and the recent uprising in Russia.
The Wagner group also known as Wagner private military company is a Russian paramilitary organisation. Wagner is accused of war crimes in both the Middle East and Africa and previously was part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Wagner is believed to employ as many as 50,000 soldiers, most of whom are ex-cons from Russia fighting in Ukraine. Wagner is believed to have 5,000 troops in Africa controlling key mineral resources across the continent. When French troops withdrew from Mali, Wagner is believed to have sent 1,400 personnel to aid the new government. Wagner is allegedly paid directly from Mali’s gold mines for their services. Wagner smuggles gold out of Sudan without paying taxes to benefit the local economy.
Wagner group soldiers even engaged US troops in Syria in 2018. The New York Times reported on a battle involving Wagner and US Marines in 2018 as follows:
“The artillery barrage was so intense that the American commandos dived into foxholes for protection, emerging covered in flying dirt and debris to fire back at a column of tanks advancing under the heavy shelling. It was the opening salvo in a nearly four-hour assault in February (2018) by around 500 pro-Syrian government forces—including Russian mercenaries—that threatened to inflame already-simmering tensions between Washington and Moscow. In the end, 200 to 300 of the attacking fighters were killed.”
The UK Guardian reported the following in May 2023:
“Investigators from the UN human rights office concluded that there are strong indications that more than 500 people were killed–the majority in extrajudicial killings–by Malian troops and foreign military personnel believed to be from Wagner, a mercenary outfit run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. A group of men rounded up in the south-east of the village were led away by soldiers and shot in the head, back or chest, and their bodies thrown into a ditch. Witnesses said that those who resisted or tried to flee were also executed by the Malian armed forces and the ‘armed white men’ and dumped into the ditch. Detainees were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during questioning, and dozens of women and girls were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence, the report claims.”
The Wagner Group has visited our own backyard thanks to Venezuela’s close ties to Russia. Wagner’s mercenaries were also employed by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro according to a 2019 UK Guardian article. Given the multiple war crimes associated with the Wagner Group, as well as the Neocolonial plundering of African gold mines by Wagner it is an interesting choice for a supposedly anti-colonial socialist regime like Maduro’s to ally itself with the antithesis of socialist values. Many Wagner troops are tied to far-right Neo-Nazi groups which promote white supremacy.
Given Wagner’s war crimes and threat to world stability perhaps the Government of T&T should have a position on Wagner and other private military companies that have negative human rights records. Since T&T now has the 78th President of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis our status on the international stage may attract some attention.
As a former colony, we have a moral obligation to condemn the Neocolonial operations of Wagner across Africa as resources that ought to benefit citizens are being stolen to profit Russian elites.
T&T should also sign onto the Montreux Document, the major International Law document governing legal obligations for private military contractors like Wagner.
The Montreux Document on Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies During Armed Conflict, is a non-binding international document that guides states regarding the regulation and oversight of private military companies.
The document was developed through a process initiated by Switzerland and was adopted in 2008, in Montreux, Switzerland. The Montreux Document outlines the international legal obligations that states must adhere to when hiring and contracting with companies like Wagner, as well as good practices for effective regulation, monitoring, and accountability of private military activities.
The Montreux Document emphasises Respect for international humanitarian law and Legal Accountability including remedies being paid to victims of private military companies like Wagner.
While Wagner has not yet directly affected us here in T&T, if its influence continues to grow worldwide it may only be a matter of time before Wagner’s Neocolonialist agenda affects us here at home.
