Ukraine: The Latest - Is Prigozhin's death the end of the Wagner Group?
People lay carnations to a memorial as they pay tribute to Yevgeny Prigozhin who died in a plane crash, in Moscow, Russia on August 25, 2023 - Photo by Pelagiya Tihonova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/Photo by Pelagiya Tihonova/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesToday on Ukraine: The Latest, we bring you the latest news from Ukraine, analyse the continuing fallout after the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and we discuss The secret trade routes helping Putin dodge Western sanctions.Dominic Nicholls, Associate Editor to Defence, starts by examining what the death of Prigozhin may mean for the long-term viability of the Wagner Group.I think this is the end of the Wagner group., especially with Dmitry Utkin dying as well. Some of the, dare I say, lower down members that’s left will be assimilated into the Russian Ministry of Defence, others may drift away and join other private military companies. There are many, many PMCs in Russia. They were were capable, but they had to rely on the Rus
Today on Ukraine: The Latest, we bring you the latest news from Ukraine, analyse the continuing fallout after the apparent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and we discuss The secret trade routes helping Putin dodge Western sanctions.
Dominic Nicholls, Associate Editor to Defence, starts by examining what the death of Prigozhin may mean for the long-term viability of the Wagner Group.
I think this is the end of the Wagner group., especially with Dmitry Utkin dying as well. Some of the, dare I say, lower down members that’s left will be assimilated into the Russian Ministry of Defence, others may drift away and join other private military companies. There are many, many PMCs in Russia.
They were were capable, but they had to rely on the Russian MOD for a lot of their sort of bigger stuff, aircraft and what have you, that they were using in Africa.
Without, dare I say, charismatic leaders such as Prigozhin, I can’t see Wagner still existing as it is.
Wagner opened the door to a number of different countries across the world, particularly in Africa. I think those relationships will just be subsumed or taken on by the Russian state, most likely through through the MOD, maybe outsourced to PMCs, but I can’t see Wagner existing as it is, and even if it does, they’re not going to have a leader that says, ‘right, lads, we’re gonna carry on Yevgeny’s model’.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon adds to the analysis.
I think the oligarchs are getting incredibly nervous. Not only are they getting drone strikes every day and having to dive into their cellars, it now appears it’s pretty dodgy to get in there to their jets to fly down to Crimea or even across to Turkey where most of them seem to go.
And I think that is beginning to wear.
He goes on to mention kompromat.
Now the other element that’s come into discussing this whole issue with various people over the last couple of days...what’s been said to me is that there is a lot of kompromat around, dirty washing, and people anticipate this coming out over the next few days and weeks,
Prigozhin knew that he was in difficulty. Now, some people are telling me that this kompromat was, he thought, his insurance policy. Now, that has obviously not been effective.
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War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday The Telegraph’s top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles - military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical - and tell you what you need to know to stay updated.
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Ukraine: The Latest’s regular contributors are:
David Knowles
David is Head of Audio Development at The Telegraph, where he has worked for nearly three years. He has reported from across Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.
Dominic Nicholls
Dom is Associate Editor (Defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served for 23 years in the British Army, in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
Francis Dearnley
Francis is assistant comment editor at The Telegraph. Prior to working as a journalist, he was chief of staff to the Chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board at the Houses of Parliament in London. He studied History at Cambridge University and on the podcast explores how the past shines a light on the latest diplomatic, political, and strategic developments.
They are also regularly joined by The Telegraph’s foreign correspondents around the world, including Joe Barnes (Brussels), Sophia Yan (China), Nataliya Vasilyeva (Russia), Roland Oliphant (Senior Reporter) and Colin Freeman (Reporter). In London, Venetia Rainey (Weekend Foreign Editor), Katie O’Neill (Assistant Foreign Editor), and Verity Bowman (News Reporter) also frequently appear to offer updates.
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