Not your typical army: how the Wagner Group operates

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

The recent mutiny in Russia has put a spotlight on the quasi-military organization responsible: the Wagner Group. Today, we talk to an expert on the Wagner Group to get a sense of how it operates and what its failed rebellion against the Russian government means for the group's future.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:12.2	This is the Indicator from Planet Money.
0:13.9	I'm Patty Hirsch.
0:15.1	And I'm Adrian Mah.
0:16.6	Over the last week, we have seen a dramatic scenario play out in Russia.
0:20.6	Yeah, last Friday, groups from the Wagner group, the Shadowee Quasai military organization,
0:25.7	apparently headed by Yvgeny Pregozion were seen marching towards Moscow.
0:30.6	Russia's capital was put on alert.
0:32.7	President Vladimir Putin accused Pregozion of treason, and there were reports of plashes
0:37.1	between Wagner troops and the Russian military.
0:40.1	And for a moment, it looked as though Russia might have the beginnings of a coup on its
0:44.1	hands.
0:45.1	But, by Monday morning, it was all over.
0:47.7	The Wagner troops were heading back to their bases.
0:50.6	Pregozion had fled the country, and Putin appeared to be offering the would-be rebels,
0:55.3	a amnesty in return for signing a new contract with the Kremlin.
0:59.2	This was a bewildering sequence of events that's raised all sorts of questions about what
1:03.1	this might mean for Putin and for Ukraine.
1:06.0	Here at the Indicator, we're interested in those things, too, of course.
1:08.9	But what really caught our eye was this mention of contracts.
1:12.3	And it turns out that contracts are at the heart of what this mysterious organization,
1:16.4	the Wagner group, is and does.
	...

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