Prigojin Uprising and the Rules of Russian Roulette

There was a nursery rhyme we used to sing when we were children, and since yesterday I've been running and at the same time rolling this nursery rhyme around on my tongue. It's almost like it's stuck in my tongue, I've been singing and singing it one after the other. "Rusdi Geldi Aşka, Rus'ün Aşkı Başka". Those of my age know it very well, journalist Metin Toker, son-in-law of İsmet İnönü, the Second Man, had a book with the same title. It was very popular at the time, not only the book, of course, but the son-in-law was also very popular as a journalist. 

Yes, dear readers, the whole world public held its breath, lived a "Russian Roulette-like Uprising" breathlessly in this 24 hour period, got involved in all aspects of this uprising, got lost in it, got up with Wagner (Gruppa Vagnera) and sat down with Wagner. It is undoubtedly good that this uprising was ended in a truly Russian way, without expanding or spreading. As Putin's spokesman Peskov so eloquently put it, after emphasizing that the Wagner members would not be prosecuted, the conclusion that "preventing bloodshed was more important than punishment" is indeed positively memorable.  So what happened in those 24 hours? A unilateral challenge was issued, Putin understood the gravity of the situation, he understood that the war would be won by constitutional forces, he sided with the constitutional forces. Wagner and the Kremlin agreed and the crisis was over before it started. When one plays devil's advocate, the situation is a bit different. It feels as if a game within a game has been staged. Since 2014, Wagner had spiraled in Donbas or New Russia (Nova Rossiya), his exit was a threat. From 2014 to 2015, Wagner was deployed to the region to help the separatist forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and during the war in Ukraine's Donbas, he gained worldwide fame for his combat skills, especially in urban areas. He is currently fighting in conflicts in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and Mali, often alongside forces allied with the Russian government. 

Let us recall that since April 2019, the Wagner Group has been actively involved in Libya on the side of the rebel General Haftar, in exchange for financing from the United Arab Emirates. In other words, in Libya, as in Syria, the Wagner Group has openly opposed the Republic of Turkey. Haftar and Wagner, who fought against the United Nations-backed Libyan government, could not hold on against the official government forces of Libya, which Turkey actively supported. Although the Wagner Group has lost power in Libya and Syria, it is known that it maintains its influence in Africa and Ukraine and continues to carry out important military actions. In a game within a game, Wagner Tere was pulled out of Donbas, taken to Belarus and massed in such a way as to threaten Kiev. Suffice it to say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which cannot make any progress in the general counter-offensive phase and despite all kinds of support, may be forced to withdraw forces from the center of gravity.

Yes, Dear Readers, like you, I am one of those who have had my share of this breathless marathon. Only with one difference, I found myself in this marathon from one channel to another.  Fortunately, I switched from that channel to this one via Skype connection. I found myself in a "Russian Roulette-like Uprising" and tried to interpret what might be going on behind the scenes. Dear readers, I am writing this article in the heat of the moment in order to make a note in history. One of the parties - it would be more accurate to say actors - is Wagner, the owner of a catering company that has been providing catering services to the Russian Ministry of Defense since 2006 and is therefore known as Putin's chef, providing military services, and on the other side is the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. 

The name Wagner was not chosen at random. It was inspired by the surname of Richard Wagner, one of Hitler's favorite composers, by the founding leader of the Wagner Group, Dmitry Valeryevich Utkin. In 2017, Mr. Utkin was appointed CEO of Concord Management and Consulting, LLC CONCORD Management and Consulting, in which Evgeny Prigozhin is a shareholder. In June 2017, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Concord Management and Consulting for its military interventions in Crimea and Ukraine, and sanctions were imposed on Dmitry Utkin. According to a statement by the Ukrainian Security Forces in 2017, Utkin also held Ukrainian citizenship for a period of time. (1)

Institutionally, the other side is the Kremlin's two most important military actors.  The Kremlin, which means "fortress", "fortress", "castle", is the name given to the Russian bureaucracy. The Kremlin is a set of fortified buildings in the center of a historic Russian city, the most famous of which is the Moscow Kremlin. Let's concretize the actors a bit more, let's say as political figures. On the one side, Yevgeny Prigojin, the owner and director of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, and on the other side, the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and the Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. In other words, Prigojin, the "educated" Prigojin, on the one side, and the two "educated" figures on the other. Prigojin, who is directly challenging the Russian State, is so "Regimented" that we should say at first glance that he comes from the "Under the Stairs" Toast Shop. 

I say, how much the term "under the stairs" has caught on in Turkey. Doesn't it mean to be able to explain your point in the simplest way? Personally speaking, I use the expressions adopted by the public, by young people, and I always try to use them, even if they are inaccurate. A journalist is obliged to write in the language of the people. This is the truth. If you want, let's continue, in its simplest form, "Mektepli" gets his knowledge from school and education, while "Alayaylı" gets his knowledge from experience. The schooled know a lot but cannot put this knowledge into practice; the cynical can apply it more easily but their knowledge is limited. 

A 24 hour challenge between actors Let's say at first glance that it is a tight "story" with breathless real-time action scenes reminiscent of the cult movie "Top Gun" of the 80s. This term "story" has been used so much lately. Sir, we have heard a lot of people refer to short videos shared on social media as 'story' or 'story' in Turkish. I am referring to the 'story' feature on Instagram, one of the popular platforms where you can share content that can change your life and the lives of others. 

In world politics, powerful countries often participate in hot conflicts through proxy forces. The term "proxy war", which is often used, was coined from this point of view. Sometimes these proxy forces are volunteer groups, sometimes they are mercenary military companies. Undoubtedly, Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which is careful to stay on legal grounds as an international initiative, utilizes proxy forces. 

Russia's utilization of military companies on the battlefield first started with its intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Russia, which intervened in the war on the side of the Damascus regime, has frequently deployed military companies to the battlefield against both anti-regime rebels and terrorist organizations such as ISIS. 

The military companies that Russia utilizes in wars are mostly registered in the trade registry of a country other than Russia. Among the companies operating in Ukraine and Syria, the "Wagner Group" is a PMC (Private Military Company) based in Argentina, while the "Slavonic Corps" is based in Hong Kong. Another military company, "Turan", which was established to recruit from Turkic peoples, is supposed to be based in Kyrgyzstan, but there is no clear information on this issue. (2)

Although the companies that the United States receives services from are the result of free entrepreneurship, many of the companies that Russia receives services from are - let us emphasize - shady. All three of the above-mentioned companies are specifically designed with ideological motives, and their ultimate goal is to work exclusively with Russia. While the "Slavonic Corps" aims to recruit nationalist elements of Slavic peoples under the guise of Panslavism, the "Wagner group", with its neo-Nazi symbols in its logo, aims to recruit the far-right youth of Europe.

The companies' ideological marketing techniques have yielded the expected results: Panslavist nationalist youth from the former Yugoslav geography, especially Serbia and Belarus, have shown interest in Slavic Corps, while neo-Nazi youth from countries such as Germany, Hungary, Romania, Spain and Turkey have shown interest in the Wagner group and joined the company as employees. (2)

Russia has an influence not only on the far right but also on the far left, calling on far leftist/communist youth, especially in various countries, to fight for the Donbass Revolution.  

The "Turan" company also recruits fighters through the propaganda of Turkish nationalism/Turanism. The company's flag features the "flag of the Timurid Empire" and at the same time advertises in various magazines with propaganda. In general, since these companies have difficulties in finding recruits, they have resorted to strengthening their own forces by releasing men from prisons by Putin's special order, although this is not allowed by Russian law. 

Military companies, or military contractors, or military contractors as they are commonly called, are based on the logic that, like the mercenary knights of medieval Europe, they put their swords at the service of the lord who finances them and fight for his goals. 

As is well known, the most intensive use of military companies was during the period of military occupation that began following the US intervention in Iraq, when the US Army delegated its ancillary obligations such as the protection of oil wells, pipelines, American Consulates, various logistics and civilian centers to a number of military security companies, notably the famous Blackwater USA company.

Let us now turn to the legal status of these military companies. Although there is no direct legal regulation on military companies, it is clear that they are subject to the legal status of mercenaries. In 2007, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights defined private military contractors as a form of mercenarism and defined them as an "unlawful combatant element" under the Geneva Convention and prohibited their use on the battlefield. (2) 

The question is, is this description an accurate assessment?  Definitely yes. Until today, the human rights violations committed by the Black Water company, which, as a subcontractor of the US Army, undertook ancillary obligations in the conflict zone, have been debated. Nevertheless, the United States has declared that it does not recognize this resolution of the United Nations, published as a report. (3) 

Wagner paramilitary agents also committed war crimes in the areas where they were deployed. Accusations include rape and robbery of civilians and torture of accused fugitives. Let's be honest, the stories about Wagner are more than urban legend. 

Ironically, the United Nations itself has begun to use private military companies in peacekeeping missions, even though the United Nations itself has declared in its own report that the deployment of private military companies in war zones is contrary to the laws of war. (4)

The fact that military companies are employed by the employer state to fulfill a purpose reveals that both the criminal and international responsibility of this company belongs to the employer state. This has been the case since the emergence of the Westphalia System based on the nation-state understanding, which emerged as a result of the Thirty Years' War between Protestants and Catholics that broke out in Central Europe in 1618 and ended in 1648 as a result of the church-state split in Europe. The Westphalia System is the beginning of international relations in the modern sense. 

The concept created by Black Water and similar companies, which emerged as a result of a completely private enterprise and which does not hide its official legal ties with the American military, has today been turned into an instrument for proxy wars by Russia. In a way, as a reflection of the "State Capitalism" system represented by Russia in the military field, all of the military companies affiliated with Russia were established with the implicit support of the Russian state in order to realize the missions of the Russian state abroad. Russia, which challenges the international system with the understanding of "New Rules or No Rules", is trying to hit the West with its own weapon by including military companies in the wars in Ukraine and Syria, as it exploits many areas that are the fruits of the international system and uses them in its own direction. (2)

After all, I would like to say that the military companies used in the battlefields, which were established to engage in commercial activities and make money, are questionable in their effectiveness in the field, as they do more harm than good in the regions where they are located. Without mincing words, dear readers, it is believed that states can overcome the threat with the elements of national power written in their constitutions in case of tension, conflict, state of war and war or in the fight against terrorism. 

Footnotes

(1) https://www.suriyegundemi.com/wagner-grubu-kurucusu-ve-lideri-dimitry-valeriyevic-utkin/Erişim Tarihi 25.06.2023/

(2) Emir Abbas Gürbüz, Uluslararası Hukukta Özel Askeri Şirketlerin Durumu: Rusya-Ukrayna İhtilafı Emsali Üzerinden Bir Değerlendirme; https://www.academia.edu/36353171/Uluslararas%C4%B1_Hukukta_%C3%96zel_Askeri_%C5%9Eirketlerin_Durumu_Rusya_Ukrayna_%C4%B0htilaf%C4%B1_Emsali_%C3%9Czerinden_Bir_De%C4%9Ferlendirme/Erişim Tarihi 25.06.2023/

(3) US Rejects UN Mercenary Report, Washington Post, 17 Ekim 2007

(4) David Isenberg, UN Use of PMSC? It’s a Reality, not a Hypothetically, (Huffington Post, U.N. embraces private military contractors, Foreign Policy, 17 Ocak 2010