How Wagner's Recruiting Criminals Is Causing More Crime Against Russians

From extorting families for cash in return for the bodies of their dead relatives, killed in Ukraine, to deserting with their weapons to return to criminal activity in Russia, the Wagner Group recruitment of career criminals appears to be a mixed blessing for the Russians. JL 

ChrisO reports in Twitter:

Did Wagner mercenaries execute one of their own men and try to extort the wrong set of relatives to sell the corpse back to them?Men from the same prison colony are kept together for more effective unit cohesion. This is likely to mean that Wagner has imported prison gang structures into its units. This makes some sense from a cohesion and discipline point of view – gangs have their own hierarchies which could map roughly onto military hierarchies – but it most likely means that Wagner convict units are literally armed gangs, rather than professional, trained soldiers.Did Wagner mercenaries execute one of their own men and try to extort the wrong set of relatives to sell the corpse back to them? The story of Sergei Serbezov suggests that Wagner's recruitment of criminals is leading to more crimes against their own side.

 

Serbezov is a Ukrainian citizen who was sentenced in 2020 to 9 years and 9 months' imprisonment for drugs offences. He was put in the IK-10 penal colony in Saratov oblast in south-west Russia.

 

According to Serbezov's wife, IK-10 was visited by Wagner Group recruiters after the war started. They told the prisoners that they were being forcibly mobilised "whether they wanted to or not". If true, this is unusual, as Wagner seems to have relied on volunteers elsewhere.Serbezov phoned his wife on 28 September to say that he was being taken to the front line. She said that he told her that he was given an ultimatum: "either he would go in handcuffs, or he would be beaten right there on the spot".

 

On 15 October, Serbezov's wife received an anonymous text message saying that he had been shot as a deserter. The message purported to be from someone on an 'official' contract, "unlike those like Sergei".An exchange of messages followed between the message's author and Serbezov's sister, in which the author demanded that she pay $1,000 for information on where the body was buried.The unidentified author (A) wrote to Serbezov's sister (S): (A) I can assure you that the information is reliable. It can't be a mistake, one of the members of the consolidated unit in which Sergei was a member identified him.They gathered [together] convicts from the same colony for more effective interaction ... Either the body stays here, or you take it yourself. At the moment, the body is located in a field hospital. I can't name the exact location for the safety of personnel.Reports on the dead are already compiled. As you understand, deserters and looters will be buried in a mass grave without military honours.

 

(S) Well then, we'll find out everything through enquiries, but you won't get away with asking for $1,000 without having the right to do so. You want to make money off people's grief.(A) You will find your Sergei ten years after the archaeological excavations. (S) And you wonder how long you will be free after [this] extortion? (A) Contact anyone you want, even the president. We're not here, you should know.After the matter was publicised, RIA FAN – a 'news' outlet associated with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin – published a proof-of-life style video of Serbezov telling his wife that he was "doing well" and that claims of his death were "bullshit"."It's me, Sergei Mikhailovich Serbezov, your husband. It's all right, everything's fine, don't believe any rumours, listen to what I've told you. Only after you see me and talk to me can you make any conclusions."This curious affair highlights a few things: It's been documented previously that Wagner has a policy of shooting deserters. Did they shoot someone else and misidentify that person as Serbezov?Selling the bodies of dead convicts back to their relatives could be a potentially lucrative racket. Has this happened anywhere else, or is this an isolated incident?The very quick response to Serbezov's family's complaints suggests that whoever was behind this scheme wasn't authorised by Wagner's leadership. It also shows Wagner's interest in maintaining a 'clean' image, in contrast to the overt corruption of the Russian army.The unknown texter – who's more likely than not to be a Wagner member – commented that men from the same prison colony are kept together for more effective unit cohesion. This is likely to mean that Wagner has imported prison gang structures into its units. This makes some sense from a cohesion and discipline point of view – gangs have their own hierarchies which could map roughly onto military hierarchies – but it most likely means that Wagner convict units are literally armed gangs, rather than professional, trained soldiers.