Recruiters and propagandists beforehand working for Russia’s Wagner Group have emerged as the primary conduit for Kremlin-organized sabotage assaults in Europe, in accordance with Western intelligence officers. The Financial Times writes it. The fighter group’s standing has been unsure since a failed rise up towards Russian navy leaders in June 2023 resulted in a crackdown and the demise of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
But Wagner recruiters, who concentrate on persuading younger males from the Russian hinterland to combat in Ukraine, have been given a brand new project: recruiting economically weak Europeans to hold out acts of violence on Nato soil, officers mentioned. Russia’s navy intelligence company (GRU) “is using the talent it has,” a Western intelligence official mentioned, referring to the Wagner community. For the GRU, the Wagner community proved to be a very efficient, if rudimentary, device in attaining this aim, senior European intelligence officers advised the Financial Times.
Wagner brokers have been given all the things from arson assaults on politicians’ automobiles and warehouses containing help for Ukraine to posing as Nazi propagandists. Typically, these recruited achieve this for cash and are sometimes marginalized people, typically with out objective or route. Prigozhin was additionally accountable for operating the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency – Russia’s best-known ‘troll farm’ – which started focusing on Western audiences with disinformation nicely over a decade in the past. For instance, social media accounts operated by Wagner have been accountable for recruiting a bunch of Britons in late 2023. In the wake of that assault, European companies have slowly painted an image of a a lot bigger community of Wagner ‘disposable brokers’ throughout Europe.
https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/ft-gli-ex-wagner-attivi-europa-come-sabotatori-russi-AIH0cmRB