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According to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, the Wagner Group — the shadowy paramilitary organization that staged a short-lived mutiny June 23 — has been fully funded by the Russian state. For the first time, Putin has admitted the Kremlin allocated the equivalent of nearly $1 billion to fund the mercenary group in the past year alone.
Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan predicts this news will lead to a new round of U.S. sanctions against companies tied to the Wagner Group and the potential seizure of its assets.
Excerpted from Peter’s June 28 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:
The Russian state has kept a degree of separation from the Wagner Group for the past decade, but years of war crimes and avoided sanctions are about to come crashing down on Putin.
If you’re not familiar, the Wagner Group has been operating internationally as a gang of mercenaries and thugs since 2014. Most countries knew this was a branch of the Russian state, but many embraced the “legal deniability” to protect trade and relations.
The Russian government just admitted that Wagner is, and always has been, an arm of the Russian state. Not only is this going to piss a lot of people off and start a new round of punitive sanctions, but it also means that the seizure of Wagner (aka Russian) assets will be starting up very soon.
Wagner’s capacity to operate internationally is going away, and Russia no longer has the ability to project power outside of the former Soviet space. So if you’re tired of hearing the name Yevgeny Prigozhin or Wagner, you’re probably in luck…
