What Is the Future of Wagner Group after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Death

Two months ago, during the Wagner Group mutiny, when they overtook the city of Rostov-on-Don without resistance, Russian president Vladimir Putin called Yevgeny Prigozhin’s actions a betrayal. Putin spoke of “treason against the country and the people”, “terror” and “a stab in the back.” Nevertheless, no punishment was given to Prigozhin at that time.

“And then I thought, ‘will Vova [Putin] just let it slide?!’” — says Wagner Group’s Valery, who was contacted by the IStories correspondent. For the last month Valery has been trying to contact the call center of Wagner Group to find out how to get the compensation due to him — he had to amputate his leg because of the wound. When the IStories correspondent calls him, the first thing he asks is whether there is any news about the payments.

Valery was wounded near Bakhmut. He spent a long time in hospital, waiting for a prosthesis to be made. There, in the hospital, he heard the news of the mutiny: “I was waiting for my leg to get used to the prosthesis, to dry out. Then — bang, bang, bang, our guys overtook Rostov! I was shocked. How could we jump on Vova? He’s a serious man, it’s a hassle.” But Valery claims that he would have taken part in the march without any doubts: “I would come even on one leg. Prigozhin is like a dear father to us, we all respect him.”

Now Valery and his other fellow servicemen are worried about whether they will receive the promised payments after Prigozhin’s death. The chats of the military and their relatives are overflowing with such messages. “People have died, and you talk about payments,” some other participants in the chat condemn them. — “Nobody knows anything for sure yet, and you are already burying him [Prigozhin].”

In the most popular chat of Wagner members’ relatives there is almost no one who believes in the death of its founder. Statements by the Federal Air Transport Agency of Russia that Prigozhin was on the passenger list are not considered confirmation for these people, they are waiting for “accurate information” and condemn those who are now carrying flowers to the spontaneous memorials.

“I will never believe in Prigozhin’s death. Everything is pre-planned. This is just an excuse not to be responsible to the relatives. He will live further under another name,” — one of the chat participants wrote. “They found two ‘Gazelles’ full of money during the mutiny, so why more than half of us are still waiting [for the payments] since spring? This is all about profit. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone is told not to wait for anything,” another echoed her.

“Nothing is known yet — alive or not alive,” a mercenary of Wagner Group contacted by IStories says. Another interlocutor, a member of the volunteers chat, quotes a news article that he saw somewhere the news where Prigozhin is reported to be seen in Mali in confirmation of the version that he is alive. The third member sends a voice message: a man, poorly imitating Prigozhin’s voice, states that the information about his death in the airplane is fake. 

Another IStories interlocutor, Maxim, who worked with Wagner for several years. “We all have a very big doubt that he died. Because Yevgeny Viktorovich is a fan of such antics. He used to fake death. There was such a story in one of the Arab countries, that he died, then came and said: ‘Aha, bitches, didn’t wait for me?’”

“Why else would we have doubts? — Maxim reasoned. — There is such a thing, called security. When a motorcade of, for example, the PMC leadership is traveling, then Dmitry Utkin [Wagner Group founder] is in one car for safety reasons, and Yevgeny Viktorovich is always in the other. Because if one car is shot down, the deputy commander remains alive.”

“Nothing is known yet, — another chat participant under the nickname Skif argues. — Such people and such commanders as Prigozhin will not risk their lives for nothing. If it is confirmed [Prigozhin’s death] — we will go to the funeral, put on uniforms, chevrons, take PMC flags and solemnly bury them. If not — we will drink to their health, so that they live longer and continue to do what they do.”

Skif treats Prigozhin without fanaticism: “All I need is a task: to defend the motherland. There is no difference, PMC or the Ministry of Defense. I do not care at all who will be at the helm, as long as those people for whom I went to certain death did not suffer. I came home, children are running here, everyone is walking calmly, people are working, transportation is running. And I am happy that there is nothing like what I saw there [at war].”

Ex-Wagnerian Konstantin treats the death of his former commander philosophically: “It was, of course, expected.” 

“There is Lotus, he was not on the passenger list. There is Ratibor, there is Pioneer, — he lists Wagner commanders who could have taken Prigozhin’s position. — There are many worthy candidates out there. But they will suit as brigade commanders, and Prigozhin was more than a brigade commander.” Prigozhin was killed because of his popularity, Konstantin believes: “The defense minister, the president — these are all, I believe, deserters. And those who have the support of the people are disposed of by Putin.”

“Who will replace Prigozhin if he dies? No one, because he is a key figure, — Maxim reflects. — In Wagner, there is no such thing as a deputy, deputy deputy, and so on, as in the army; there are a whole mountain of deputies. Everyone in our circle has a misunderstanding of what will happen to us and our future. Where will we go if the organization falls apart? Everyone is thinking whether to go to the Ministry of Defense or to get a job as a security guard for a penny in a grocery store. Everyone is just a little bit on fire, because they are used to going on these missions. People do not see themselves in this civilian life. If this crash has its roots in the Ministry of Defense and Prigozhin really died, then it was all done so that people would join the [official] army.”

“There is no trust in our government now. I now look at the Ministry of Defense with even more shame. This is a stain on our state, — another volunteer chat participant argues. — I hope he is alive. I will believe it to the end.”