Closing ranks. A mercenary from Russia’s notorious Wagner Group describes his realisation that the real enemy he faced in Ukraine was Russia’s military leadership — Novaya Gazeta Europe
novayagazeta.eu
Things have been rather quiet for Fyodor Ogarkov (not his real name) since the failure of the June mutiny orchestrated by the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. The 34-year-old businessman, father-of-two, and erstwhile Wagner mercenary has found himself on extended leave, during which he agreed to explain to Novaya-Europe how a self-proclaimed patriot who went to fight in Ukraine “for the children” ended up marching on Moscow in an attempt to overthrow Russia’s Defence Minister.

Ogarkov decided to go to war at the beginning of the year, and applied to the military for a contract. He had been thinking about enlisting to serve in the so-called “special military operation” for a while, he says, clarifying that he had wanted to do so “for the children”.

“I’d been watching broadcasts from Ukraine, with the constant calls to kill Russian children, so that’s what made me decide to go,” he explains, though when asked to cite a case in which Russian children had been slaughtered, he admitted he was unable to. However, there were many examples both on TV and social media, he added.