PARIS: Wagner, a controversial Russian mercenary outfit which is active in the invasion of Ukraine but also in Africa, is a “formidable adversary” beca­use of the price it is prepared to pay to achieve its goals, a French general said on Monday.

Wagner, run by the businessman Yevgeny Prigo­zhin seen as close to Presi­dent Vladimir Putin, is playing an increasingly imp­o­rtant role in Moscow’s war in Ukraine as Russia seeks to reverse recent battlefield setbacks. It has employed unorthodox tactics, including a campaign to find new recruits in Russia’s prison system, but is also accused of committing serial abuses on the battlefield.

“They (Wagner) are sending us a message that when we have to face these militias elsewhere, they are able to pay a very high price in blood to achieve their objectives and will be a formidable opponent,” said Gen Pierre Schill, chief of staff of the French army. He said mercenary grou­ps like Wagner would develop in importance in the future.

But he said not all were as effective as Wagner, which enjoyed a “degree of state support behind it” due to Prigozhin’s ties with Putin. Analysts also see Prigo­zhin and Wagner pla­ying a key role in Kremlin politics, underpinning a hawkish faction pressing for the war to continue.

“Wagner, because it is fighting to get its place in the Kremlin one way or another, and paying a huge price in doing so, is asking us questions and telling us that it is a formidable adversary,” Schill told reporters in Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron has long insisted France is not a cobelligerent in the war sparked by Russia’s invasion, although Paris is supplying arms to Kyiv.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023