Russian President Vladimir Putin’s supporter Ramzan Kadyrov of Chechnya has stated his intention to one day form a private military corporation in the mold of the Wagner mercenary organization. On Sunday, Kadyrov said on Telegram that the private military company Wagner Group, which has been fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian soldiers, has achieved “amazing achievements.” Kadyrov, who has headed the Chechen Republic since 2007, stated, “We can say confidently that Wagner has demonstrated its mettle in military terms and placed a line under questions regarding whether or not such private military organizations are needed.”
When Kadyrov, now 46, finishes his public career, he plans to start a private military business to compete with his “beloved brother” Yevgeny Prigozhin. As I see it, everything will be OK. There are forces in Ukraine under Kadyrov and Prigozhin’s command that are mostly autonomous from Russia’s military. Both men have been vocal supporters of Putin, but they have also publicly criticized Putin’s military leadership. Western officials are worried that organizations like Wagner, which operate outside of the established Russian military command systems, might one day constitute a danger to stability in Russia due to their rapid increase in popularity. The Wagner Group has taken on an increasingly significant role in Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, leading an attack on Bakhmut in the Donetsk area for the past few months. Akhmad Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya before his assassination in a bombing in Grozny in 2004, is Kadyrov’s father. Kadyrov and Prigozhin have created a tacit partnership. They have been echoing one another’s calls for a more aggressive war effort and condemnation of Russia’s military leadership. Prigozhin is a longtime friend of Putin’s despite spending the last decade of the Soviet Union behind bars for theft and fraud.
To serve Russia’s geopolitical goals, he sent Wagner mercenaries to fight alongside Russian forces in Syria and in wars across Africa, and his catering firm became known as “Putin’s Chef.” He denied any connection to Wagner and any interference in US elections for years, but finally confessed as much last year. There is mounting evidence that the Kremlin has taken steps to limit what it views as Prigozhin’s overwhelming political power, including instructing state media to cease publishing his or Wagner’s names and asking him to stop publicly criticizing the defense ministry. Such organizations are “both essential and useful,” Kadyrov remarked.
