“Wagner PMC” opened new recruitment points on the basis of sports clubs
PMC Wagner, founded by a businessman close to the Kremlin Yevgeny Prigozhin, opened at least three new recruitment points on the basis of Russian sports clubs between March 2 and 4.
This is stated in the summary of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). His experts did not rule out that the actions were designed to compensate the Wagnerians for the loss of access to recruiting new fighters in correctional colonies.
ISW writes that the new recruitment centers of PMC Wagner are based in the Dynamo sports complex in Samara, the Antares sports club in Rostov-on-Don, and the building of the Russian Boxing Federation in Tyumen.
According to the information of “PMC Wagner” itself, recruitment points were established on the basis of eight sports clubs in Moscow, “Meduza” drew attention. On March 2, Prigozhin said that the company began cooperating with sports clubs to recruit new fighters.
Earlier this week, it became known that a youth patriotic club “Wagneryonok” was established in the recently opened “PMC Wagner Center” in St. Petersburg. His officially stated task is to “instill in the young generation love for his Motherland.”
- “Wagner PMC” is a Russian unofficial armed formation. PMC mercenaries take an active part in the war with Ukraine, as well as in ground operations in the countries of the Middle East and Africa. Company fighters are accused of committing numerous war crimes, including extrajudicial executions.
- Last month, the creator and sponsor of PMC Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, stated, without specifying the reason, that the company had stopped recruiting prisoners in Russian colonies to participate in the war in Ukraine. The head of the “Sitting Russia” foundation, Olga Romanova, said that in the Russian colonies, prisoners continue to be recruited for the war, but the people who conducted the recruitment said that they represented the Ministry of Defense of Russia.
