In 2018, Kimberly Marten wrote “The Puzzle of Russian Behavior in Deir al-Zour,” which investigates the complex relationship between the Russian state and private military companies through the lens of a February 2018 battle in Syria between U.S. forces and pro-Syrian fighters. Six years later, we invited her back to discuss this complicated relationship and Russia’s involvement in Syria.Read more below.Image: Syrian Arab News AgencyIn your article “The Puzzle of Russian Behavior in Deir al-Zour,” written in 2018, you explore the relationship between the Russian Defense Ministry and mercenaries around the world, particularly in Syria.How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent Wagner rebellion affected Russian employment of mercenaries globally?The Wagner Group still exists. As of spring 2024, its members were officially recognized — with their insignia displayed — in Russian military parades, and the group was once again being allowed to recruit. The situation is still evolving, but it appears that for now, control over the Wagner Group has been both strengthened and split between several Russian military and security agencies. I discuss this in more depth in a June 2024 PONARS-Eurasia policy memo, published on the first anniversary of the Wagner Group mutiny led by chief contractor Yevgeny Prigozhin.Wagner Group fighters who wish to continue to work with the Russian state are now officially under contract to the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia), the organization responsible for domestic security that President Vladimir Putin created in 2016 out of Interior Ministry and specialized police forces. Three Wagner Group assault detachments joined a newly created Rosgvardia volunteer battalion to fight in Ukraine in late 2023, according to the U.K. Defense Intelligence Agency, with a new base camp in Rostov collocated with Russia’s 150th Motorized Rifle Division.To complicate matters, fighters associated with the longtime warlord leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, are officially a local branch of Russia’s Rosgvardia, and they
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In 2018, Kimberly Marten wrote “The Puzzle of Russian Behavior in Deir al-Zour,” which investigates the complex relationship between the Russian state and private military companies through the lens of a February 2018 battle in Syria between U.S. forces and pro-Syrian fighters. Six years later, we invited her back to discuss this complicated relationship and Russia’s involvement in Syria.Read more below.Image: Syrian Arab News AgencyIn your article “The Puzzle of Russian Behavior in Deir al-Zour,” written in 2018, you explore the relationship between the Russian Defense Ministry and mercenaries around the world, particularly in Syria.How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent Wagner rebellion
