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A new interactive investigation by RFE/RL reveals the inner workings of a secretive scheme by Russian military intelligence to recruit fighters for the Kremlin's war on Ukraine under the guise of a fictitious private military company.
Russia maintains manpower and avoids a politically risky call-up by offering contract soldiers what the Kremlin calls “very, very attractive” terms for signing up to fight in Ukraine. But RFE/RL’s Russian investigative unit, Systema, found numerous cases in which the promised benefits never came.
After the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a purportedly private military group called Redut has widely been tipped as Wagner’s potential successor as Russia’s key mercenary force. A new RFE/RL investigation reveals that Redut is, in reality, a secretive network operated by Russian military intelligence.