You’ve heard of Blackwater, the private military company, that the Bush administration deployed in Iraq . Erik Prince, the founder of the notorious, since renamed firm, has tried to persuade President Trump to privatize the war in Afghanistan by hiring his new PMC to wage war on the Taliban.
The same phenomenon can be seen in Russia where President Vladimir Putin has deployed a PMC known as Wagner to advance his foreign policy goals.
Now The Bell, a reliable and independent Russian news site, has new details about how Wagner emerged as Putin’s instrument. As in with Trump and Prince, Putin and the founder of Wagner are friends.
The story has yet to appear on The Bell’s English-language site so I’m quoting from Meduza, another reputable Russian news outlet.
The Bell has released an extensive report that aims to document the rise of the private military company (PMC) “Wagner,” in which the caterer and restaurateur Evgeny Prigozhin reportedly plays a leading role. Prigozhin’s ties with the Russian president have earned him the nickname “Putin’s Chef,” and multiple journalists have confirmed that the Wagner PMC has been involved in conflicts from southeast Ukraine to Syria.
