newspaper saidGuardianBritish President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to end the failed rebellion carried out by the Wagner Group last week may facilitate the efforts of international courts to pursue him and the Russian state for war crimes committed by a group of mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.
After the rebellion ended, Putin made public statements that the Wagner Group had been “fully funded” by the Russian authorities.
Putin added that during the period between May 2022 and May 2023 in the year the group received more than 86 billion Russian rubles from the state budget, or the equivalent of about one billion dollars, as salaries to fighters and incentive bonuses.
Experts in international law assert that these statements may help in prosecuting Putin and Russia in general, internationally through lawsuits.
The newspaper quotes Philip Sands, a law professor at the University of California, saying, “These words are likely to have very serious consequences in terms of exposing the Russian state to responsibility for Wagner’s actions, as well as Putin personally as head of state.”
“Putin’s funding of the Wagner Group will not automatically make Putin, or Russia, responsible for its crimes, but it may be an important part of a broader issue,” said Dabo Akande, professor of international law at Oxford University.
He adds, “This recognition is very important, although the funding is not sufficient in itself to say that someone is responsible for an international crime, but at the same time it makes it difficult for Russia and Putin to deny their relationship with what Wagner is doing.”
For years, Putin distanced himself from the Wagner Group, which was founded in 2014, especially after accusations of war crimes escalated against it in several regions around the world.
During a battle that took place in Syria with US forces in 2018, Moscow denied any control over Wagner’s forces. A Kremlin spokesman said that same year that there were no private military companies in Russia.
Since Wagner became central to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, its president, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has come out into the open. By revealing the huge amount of official spending on Wagner’s services, Putin confirmed that it was operating as an arm of the state.
“The content of the entire Wagner collection was completely provided by the state from the Ministry of Defense, from the state budget. We financed this collection completely,” Putin said.
The Wagner Group possesses heavy weapons such as air defense systems, including the advanced “Banster S-1”, according to the US Department of Defense.
The group has operated in about 30 countries and has training camps in Russia, and its management and operations are closely linked with the Russian military and intelligence community, according to research conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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2023-07-01 18:06:14
