Syrians and Russians “finished” Wagner in one night – revealed to Reuters

As Wagner’s mercenaries advanced towards Moscow in an attempted rebellion in late June, authorities in Syria and Russians According to six informed sources, the military commanders there took a series of swift measures against the local activists of the mercenary group to prevent the rebellion from spreading.

The sources said that the previously undisclosed campaign included cutting phone lines, summoning about a dozen Wagner commanders to a Russian military base, and ordering mercenaries to sign new contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry or leave Syria immediately. Close to the deployment of Russian troops and regional officials.
The sources declined to be named to discuss sensitive military information. The Syrian government, the Russian Defense Ministry and Wagner in Russia did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The moves showed how the Syrian authorities moved quickly to rein in the mercenaries, fearing that their main military partner, Russia, would be distracted by events at home, according to two Syrian sources familiar with the matter.

Wagner’s turn is over

“Wagner’s role in Syria — as it played it before — is over,” said Nawar Shaaban, a researcher at the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, an Istanbul-based independent research group focused on Syria. Given the facts, their relationship with the Syrian Ministry of Defense is now over.”

Damascus has not publicly commented on Wagner’s June 23-24 rebellion, as mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his men fighting on Russia’s behalf in Ukraine to advance toward Moscow before a Belarus-brokered deal was reached.

Fears of disrupting the Russian presence in Syria

But senior Syrian military and intelligence officials have privately expressed concern as they monitor developments that could disrupt the rebellion, a Russian military presence they have long relied on, according to a senior Syrian military officer. developments.
The two Syrian sources said that the presence of the mercenary group in Syria is relatively small, between 250 and 450 people, or about a tenth of Russia’s estimated military force. There is no official data on employment, which varies over time.

Russia deployed its military, particularly its air force, to Syria in 2015, helping President Bashar al-Assad fend off opponents bent on toppling him.
Since then, Wagner has been involved in combat missions and the security of oil facilities in Syria, while the first suspicious death of Wagner was reported there as early as 2015.

Russia’s move in Syria after the rebellion

For years, Moscow denied any connection to Wagner, but the group has played a very public role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin said after the mutiny that his government was funding the group.
After Prigozhin declared his rebellion, a group of Russian military personnel was quickly dispatched to Syria to take control of the situation from Wagner there, according to a regional military source near Damascus and two Syrian sources with knowledge of the situation, without giving details. More details.

The three sources said that the Syrian military intelligence services cut off landlines and internet connections on the night of Friday, June 23 from the areas where Russian Wagner forces were deployed to prevent them from communicating with each other, with Wagners in Russia, even with their relatives back home.
By the morning of Saturday 24 June, Syrian military intelligence and Russian defense officials were coordinating closely to isolate and control the Wagner operatives.
About 12 Wagner officers who were deployed in the Homs governorate in central Syria and elsewhere were summoned to the Russian Hmeimim operational base in the western province of Latakia, according to the Republican officer.

The guards and a Syrian source were briefed on the developments. The officer said this happened “in the early hours of the mutiny”.

New contracts or return trips

By June 24, Wagner fighters in Syria were required to sign new contracts that reported directly to the Russian Defense Ministry, said a source familiar with Wagner’s missions and two other sources familiar with the matter.
The three sources said their salaries were also cut.

Two sources said those who rejected the terms left the Russian Ilyushin planes in the following days. They numbered “in the dozens,” one said, surprising Syrian officials who had expected more would refuse and go into exile.

Between June 25 and 27, flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows at least three flights of a Russian Ilyushin jet between Latakia, Syria, and Bamako, the capital of the West African country of Mali, where Wagner also operates. Reuters was unable to determine whether Wagner personnel were on those flights.

Malian authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the flights and whether Wagner fighters had been flown from Syria to Mali.

Wagner had already pulled several experienced Russian fighters out of Syria last year to fight in Ukraine after Russia’s all-out invasion, according to Syrian analysts and a retired Syrian military official familiar with Wagner’s activities.

Wagner fighters have secured the Syrian oil fields, and Western officials say Wagner is linked to Evro Polis, a company that benefits from those assets. The European Union imposed sanctions on the company in 2021.

Reuters was unable to determine the fate of these commercial interests after the Russian Ministry of Defense’s actions against Wagner in Syria and Russia.

The Hmeimim base served as a logistical hub for the crossing of Wagner fighters into Libya and other parts of Africa, according to a Syrian security source and a Western diplomat in the region. “We are watching how Wagner’s operations will be disrupted as well,” the diplomat said.

Unlike its other operations in Africa, where Wagner’s presence is larger and not subject to the Russian army, its role in the Syrian war initially went unnoticed, as Russian air power turned the tide of the conflict.

Sources told Reuters at the time that details of its presence gradually emerged, particularly in 2018, when hundreds of Wagner fighters were killed in a clash with US forces near the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor.

In the aftermath of the Wagner uprising, the Syrian leadership was quick to publicly stress the importance of its military alliance with Russia.

Syria’s first lady was in Russia a few days later to attend her son’s graduation from Moscow State University and a reporter asked if she dreaded the visit because of recent events.

Our Russian friends did not hesitate when they stood by our side in our war. Therefore, we did not hesitate and will not hesitate to stand by them in their war.”