(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
(SCREAMS)
(RUSSIAN DIALOGUE IN VIDEO)
(MAN CONTINUES SCREAMING)
(SCREAMS)
LINTON BESSER: These men are guns for hire.
They once worked for a private military company
They once worked called the Wagner Group.
(GUNMAN SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN)
(ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
Fighters like them have bolstered Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Fighters like them have bolstered (ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
Their boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin,
was close to Russian president, Vladimir Putin,
was close to Russian president, originally as his chef.
(ENGINE ROARS)
The Wagner mercenary group (ENGINE ROARS)
The Wagner mercenary group was a bold experiment
The Wagner mercenary group financed by Prigozhin
and sanctioned by Putin.
(ROCKETS WHOOSH)
A private army (ROCKETS WHOOSH)
A private army fighting in the shadows,
it gave Putin plausible deniability in foreign wars.
it gave Putin plausible deniability But Prigozhin's power grew
and he challenged Putin.
He led a revolt right to the Kremlin's door.
In this independent
French television investigation, In this independent
French television investigation,
former senior Wagner insiders speak out about the organisation.
This film traces the group
from its origins in Ukraine
to its clandestine operations in Syria
and its reign of terror across Africa.
It also follows Yevgeny Prigozhin's rise and fall
It also follows from point man to pariah
in Putin's private war.
Moscow considers people like Alexander a deserter and a traitor.
But, after three years in Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group,
he's decided he can't stay silent about what he saw.
Alexander's one of the few fighters
who was with Wagner from the very beginning.
He says it all started in the Donbas, a region of Eastern Ukraine, in 2014.
(INDISTINCT CHANTING)
When fighting first broke out
between Ukrainian authorities and Russian separatists...
..officially, Russia wasn't involved.
(SCREAMS)
But behind the scenes
the Kremlin was manipulating sympathisers like Alexander...
..feeding them propaganda and inciting them to join the conflict.
..feeding them propaganda and (INDISTINCT CHANTING)
(ENGINE STARTS)
Alexander arrived in the Donbas (ENGINE STARTS)
Alexander arrived in the Donbas with 60 other nationalist volunteers.
Wearing green military fatigues but no insignia,
they became known as the 'little green men'.
(GUNSHOT)
(GUNFIRE)
These 'little green men'
allowed Putin to invade Ukraine
without officially implicating Russia.
(GUNFIRE)
By the end of the Donbas war
Putin had annexed a swathe of Ukrainian territory.
It was a major victory for him
in his desire to restore Russia's lost empire.
So effective were the 'little green men' in the Donbas,
So effective were the Russian Ministry of Defence
decided to organise them into a proper military unit.
In 2015 it sent Alexander and the other Donbas volunteers
to the Molkino military base
in the Krasnodar region of south-west Russia.
The new Wagner camp was set up next door to an elite army base,
The new Wagner camp was set up which belonged to the GRU -
Russia's formidable military intelligence service.
Within a few weeks
hundreds of fighters had joined the Wagner Group...
..including Marat, a former mercenary who's now a refugee in France.
Long before Marat joined Wagner
he'd been forced to give up a military career.
Russia's military intelligence unit, the GRU,
chose one of its own to lead this new company of fighters,
a soldier with a sinister reputation, who would give the group its name.
Dmitri Utkin is a ghost.
This is one of the few photos of him.
That's the insignia of the SS on his collarbone, the infamous Nazi unit.
His call sign, 'Wagner', refers to Adolf Hitler's favourite composer.
Alexander worked with Utkin for many years.
Alexander worked with Utkin He says he inspired fear in his men.
But Utkin was just Wagner's enforcer.
The real head of the group was much more discreet
The real head of the group and far more powerful...
..a businessman and close associate of Vladimir Putin,
a man named Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Yevgeny Prigozhin was born in Saint Petersburg in 1961,
his mother a nurse,
and his father a Jew and mining engineer.
In his youth he was a champion cross-country skier.
But he abandoned the sport after injury
But he abandoned the sport and fell into a life of crime.
Prigozhin was released from prison in 1990,
just as the Soviet Union was breaking up.
He took full advantage of the economic chaos
He took full advantage and started a business.
One of Prigozhin's restaurants was frequented by Vladimir Putin,
and that's where he first met the Russian president.
Prigozhin networked relentlessly.
By the 2000s he was winning lucrative state contracts.
His extraordinary business empire
grew from catering His extraordinary business empire
grew from catering all the way to running his own army.
Putin's kleptocracy suited Prigozhin perfectly
and his special relationship with the Russian president
and his special relationship brought untold riches.
Prigozhin understood that, to thrive in Putin's Russia,
his business must also serve the desires of the Kremlin,
and one of the first places he tested that model was in the Middle East.
In Syria a civil war was raging
between dictator Bashar Al-Assad, In Syria a civil war was raging
between dictator Bashar Al-Assad, rebel groups and Islamist militias.
between dictator Bashar Al-Assad, (ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
(ROCKETS WHOOSH)
Assad called for Putin's help,
and Putin saw an opportunity Assad called for Putin's help,
and Putin saw an opportunity to regain lost influence.
On 30 September 2015
Putin deployed Russian troops On 30 September 2015
Putin deployed Russian troops in Syria,
Putin deployed Russian troops including Russian fighter planes.
He also called in Prigozhin's secret army.
About 1,500 Wagner mercenaries deployed to Syria,
and the Russian Ministry of Defence
pushed these guns for hire into the heat of battle.
In February 2018
Wagner mercenaries, including Marat Gabidullin,
were ordered to retake the oil fields at Deir ez-Zor.
The American army spotted the group of armed men
and contacted Russian military command to identify them.
They denied they were Russian forces.
The Americans bombed them.
(EXPLOSION)
(SNIFFS)
Marat was hit in the leg by shrapnel.
He suffers permanent after-effects.
(SNIFFS)
(SIGHS)
A hundred Wagner mercenaries were killed in the battle,
including 23 of Marat's men.
He says the Ministry of Defence betrayed them.
After the Deir ez-Zor defeat
Prigozhin developed a deep-seated hatred
Prigozhin developed for the Russian Ministry of Defence
and its head, for the Russian Ministry of Defence
and its head, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
It was the beginning of a rift
between Russia's official and secret armies
that would have consequences years later.
(ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
But Wagner wasn't in Syria just to fight Assad's war.
Prigozhin was there to make money.
Syrian oil money flowed into Prigozhin's coffers
via a company called Evro Polis.
It's one of more than 400 subsidiary companies
It's one of more than 400 ultimately controlled by Prigozhin.
Prigozhin's companies span several industries,
from hotels to construction, mining and media.
One of his most controversial operations
is a business called the Internet Research Agency.
It's the Saint Petersburg-based troll farm
accused of influencing the 2016 US election.
(RADIO CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
After Syria
Prigozhin became a vital instrument
in Russia's global projection of power.
This Prigozhin-sponsored film called Tourist
is part of an attempt to show potential customers and despots
the suite of services the Wagner Group offered,
the suite of services especially its fighting power.
(GUNFIRE)
When they arrived in a new country
one of the group's tactics
was to drive out Western powers using disinformation.
Wagner turned up in the Central African Republic in 2018
at the request of President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
At the time France, the former colonial power,
continued to wield enormous influence.
continued to wield Wagner set out to discredit them.
Abdoulaye Ibrahim was at the heart of Wagner's propaganda system
in the Central African Republic,
a troll factory inside the presidential palace.
Wagner's disinformation specialists
organised fake demonstrations in the streets of the capital, Bangui.
(INDISTINCT CHANTING) organised fake demonstrations in the streets of the capital, Bangui.
(INDISTINCT CHANTING)
Didatien Kossimatchi led this rally.
Abdoulaye worked closely with him.
The fake demonstrations are funded by Prigozhin
then broadcast on his local news channel.
For just a few thousand dollars
Wagner gets maximum geopolitical impact.
Wagner gets maximum (CHEERING)
It's dangerous to investigate the Wagner Group here.
These pictures of Wagner mercenaries were shot in secret.
These pictures of Wagner mercenaries In 2018
three Russian journalists
investigating Wagner three Russian journalists
investigating Wagner in the Central African Republic
investigating Wagner were murdered.
At the time Prigozhin's mercenaries arrived
At the time in the Central African Republic
the country was torn apart by a civil war
between the government and several rebel groups.
(MARCHING BAND PLAYS STATELY MUSIC)
Officially, the Russians came to help train the Central African army.
In reality, the mercenaries fought the rebels
and protected the president.
In return for that protection,
Wagner helped itself to the country's mineral wealth of gold and diamonds.
(SIREN WAILS)
Joseph Bendounga,
a member of parliament from Joseph Bendounga,
a member of parliament from the working-class Bimbo district...
..is one of the few brave voices
speaking against the deal his president made with Wagner.
Mr Bendounga is angry at President Touadera
for changing the country's mining code
so he can personally issue mining permits to whomever he chooses.
In December 2019
the permit for the Ndassima gold mine in the centre of the country
was withdrawn from Axmin, the Canadian company,
without explanation.
Boubacar Sidibe was the operations manager.
Midas Ressources' website
gives the impression it's a major mining exploration group.
But when you click on the tabs
none of them open.
This confidential memo none of them open.
This confidential memo
from the Minister of Mines to President Touadera
makes clear that the company is Russian.
The Russians aren't just getting their hands
on industrial gold deposits. aren't just getting their hands
on industrial gold deposits.
They're also seizing unlicensed local digs.
And they're accused of massacring any civilians who stand in their way.
Moussa, who is in his 20s, lived in Aigbado in the centre of the country.
In January 2022
his village, which was located next to a diamond mine, came under attack.
He has taken refuge in Bangui, where he lives in fear.
In total 65 people were killed, including children.
(INHALES SHARPLY)
This woman's husband was killed during an attack on a gold mine,
then she was kidnapped.
For these victims
there is little hope For these victims
there is little hope that their tormentors
there is little hope will ever be brought to justice.
Many Central African authorities are under Wagner's control.
For years Yevgeny Prigozhin operated in the shadows.
Hidden behind a pyramid of shell companies,
Hidden behind he denied any connection to Wagner.
All that changed in 2022
when Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian generals told Putin their victory would be swift.
Russian generals told Putin They were wrong.
(GUNFIRE)
The Ukrainians, (GUNFIRE)
The Ukrainians, supported by the West, fought back.
The Ukrainians, The Russians became bogged down.
(ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
Prigozhin seized the opportunity to make himself indispensable.
Russia needed thousands more men to fight the Ukrainians,
and Prigozhin found them inside Russian prisons.
and Prigozhin found them Last September
Prigozhin finally stepped out of the shadows
with this video, which was leaked on social media.
PEER DE JONG:
Within months Prigozhin claimed to have recruited 40,000 prisoners.
(ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
These men represented nearly 20% of Russia's fighting forces in Ukraine.
(GUNFIRE)
In January
Prigozhin's men took back the city In January
Prigozhin's men took back the city of Soledar from the Ukrainians.
Publicly, Prigozhin celebrated military successes.
Privately, he was growing frustrated.
(GUNMAN SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN)
(ROCKET GUN BLASTS)
(GUNMAN SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN)
As he tells it,
the Russian Ministry of Defence,
led by his old rival Shoigu,
was sabotaging led by his old rival Shoigu,
was sabotaging Wagner's battlefield capability.
was sabotaging By February this year
Prigozhin was furious and emboldened.
Unthinkable to most Russians,
he began openly criticising Unthinkable to most Russians,
he began openly criticising Russia's military leadership.
(ENGINE WHINES)
Prigozhin started distinguishing himself from Shoigu,
standing alongside his men near the front.
standing alongside his men (LAUGHTER)
PEER DE JONG:
His direct way of talking
was becoming more and more popular in Russia.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
Prigozhin promoted his role as liberator of ex-prisoners
who had fought for six months.
These propaganda videos hide a much darker reality.
(MEN CHATTER IN RUSSIAN)
More than 30,000 men from the Wagner Group
have been wounded or killed in combat since the beginning of the war.
(SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
In March Prigozhin said (SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN)
In March Prigozhin said the Russian Defence Ministry
banned him from getting new fighters from Russian jails.
He accused it of bleeding Wagner to deny them victory in Bakhmut.
(GUNMAN SHOUTS IN RUSSIAN)
After months of bloody fighting
Wagner did finally take Bakhmut in May.
But by then
Prigozhin's anger at Shoigu and his deputy, Gerasimov,
Prigozhin's anger at Shoigu had boiled over.
In early June Prigozhin refused an order to sign a formal contract
between Wagner and the Defence Ministry.
between Wagner In late June
he took a dangerous next step.
He described the whole pretext for Putin's invasion of Ukraine
He described the whole pretext as a racket.
Days later
Prigozhin claimed there was a deadly air attack on a Wagner camp
Prigozhin claimed there was from behind Russian lines.
Prigozhin blamed the Defence Ministry, which denied it.
Incensed, Prigozhin and several thousand Wagner fighters
marched towards Moscow.
As Prigozhin's men continued north...
..Putin raced to mobilise troops to defend the capital...
..and denounced Wagner's leaders as traitors.
Then, as the world watched on,
Prigozhin's columns halted,
and there was a strange announcement.
Belarussian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko,
Belarussian president, described in detail
how Putin had told him he'd decided to eliminate Prigozhin.
Lukashenko says he talked Putin down
and offered to broker an agreement with Prigozhin himself.
The deal was Prigozhin and his fighters would leave Russia
and head to Belarus
in return for amnesty.
In the weeks since the failed mutiny
Putin's has asked Wagner fighters In the weeks since the failed mutiny
Putin's has asked Wagner fighters to sign on with the Russian military,
which is trying to plug the holes in the Ukrainian frontline
left by Wagner units.
Putin and Prigozhin may still need each other.
In the weeks since the revolt
Prigozhin disappeared In the weeks since the revolt
Prigozhin disappeared from public view.
The Kremlin claimed Putin had met with him.
But days went by and there was no visible proof.
Then, last week, a grainy video surfaced purportedly from Belarus.
It was Prigozhin once more emerging from the shadows.
It was Prigozhin (RUSSIAN DIALOGUE IN VIDEO)
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation