UK says Russia deploying shadowy Wagner Group mercenaries to Ukraine

A private Russian military contractor that has been accused of human rights abuses has deployed to Eastern Ukraine, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry.

The ministry’s Defense Intelligence said the Wagner Group was expected to bring up to 1,000 mercenaries to take part in combat operations in Ukraine after the regular Russian military experienced heavy losses.

“They are expected to deploy more than 1,000 mercenaries, including senior leaders of the organisation, to undertake combat operations,” the agency tweeted.

“Due to heavy losses and a largely stalled invasion, Russia has highly likely been forced to reprioritise Wagner personnel for Ukraine at the expense of operations in Africa and Syria,” the report elaborates.

The report claims that Wagner personnel have been prioritized for the conflict in Ukraine rather than in operations in Africa and Syria. This was motivated by heavy losses and an invasion that has been slowed due to fierce Ukrainian resistance and severe logistical issues.

Air Vice-Marshal Mick Smeath, London’s defense attaché in Washington, said in a statement that Russia has likely been forced to reprioritize Wagner personnel for Ukraine at the expense of its operations in Africa and Syria.

Smeath’s statement comes after Pentagon officials said recently that they expected Russia to look for ways to replace their combat losses with Russian troops based in other countries. Last Friday, the Pentagon said it appeared Moscow was drawing on Russian troops based in Georgia, but no details were available on their number or the timing of their expected deployment.

Thousands of mercenaries from Wagner Group have been deployed in Syria since 2015. The U.S. and EU consider the group to be a surrogate of the Russian military, but the Kremlin denies it even exists.

In December, the EU imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group and its founder, Dmitry Utkin, for fomenting violence and committing human rights abuses in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine.

The Wagner group is considered one of Russia's most secretive organisations. Officially, it doesn't exist, but up to 10,000 operatives are believed to have taken at least one contract with the group over the last seven years to go to hotspots including Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.

Because it often operates in support of Russian interests or foreign policy objectives, and is reportedly trained on installations of the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD), several sources consider ChVK Wagner an arm's-length unit of the MoD and/or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU.

Likewise, the group is widely believed to be owned and/or financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to Putin. It is speculated that the Wagner Group is used by the Russian government to allow for plausible deniability in certain conflicts.

(with inputs from AP)