The notorious Wagner Group is reportedly setting up its own military police to force rival Russian troops to submit to the mercenary group’s rules and recognize its “complete authority” in occupied parts of Ukraine.
The audacious plan—just the latest in a long series of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s jabs at his foes in the Russian Defense Ministry—was detailed in a job listing for the group shared on social media Thursday.
“Wagner invites former employees [of the security services] with experience in operational work and detentions” to fulfill tasks in the war zone, the group said.
ADVERTISEMENT
The independent news outlet Verstka reports that one of its reporters called the number listed for the job posting and was told the new “military police” will serve in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
“You will have to make sure that everybody follows the rules of the company. Watch that there are no thieves and marauders, no beatings, drunkenness, and so on,” a recruiter identified only as Denis was quoted saying.
Members of the new military police would also be tasked with weeding out “saboteurs” and interrogating them, he said, and “catching” regular Russian troops subordinate to the Russian Defense Ministry.
“The scumbags have multiplied there, drinking like pigs. We have complete authority,” he was quoted saying.
“The work will be interesting, have no doubt,” the vacancy listing read.
The news comes as Prigozhin doubles down on tearing apart virtually every claim of battlefield “success” made publicly by Russia’s top military brass. While the Russian Defense Ministry has cited fantastical figures to claim it has stopped Ukraine’s counteroffensive in its tracks, Prigozhin has said such glowing assessments are all “lies.”
“They are bringing a load of bullshit to the president’s table… [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu and [Chief of the General Staff Valery] Gerasimov have a simple approach: a lie must be monstrous for people to believe it,” he said via his press service.
“Russia will wake up one day and find that Crimea has already been handed to the Ukrainians. There is a flat-out betrayal of the interests of the Russian Federation underway, and this is all happening against the backdrop of losses,” he said.
