Wagnerian: Prigozhin's Hollywood-style propaganda films are selling Putin's war

The aesthetic displayed in the low-budget Wagner movies, what Laruelle describes as a culture that “admires survivalism, mercenaries, and non-Asian martial arts,” quickly spread online. In the Wagnerverse, which exists primarily on Telegram, YouTube and Instagram, fans of the mercenary life can bond over Russia’s state-sponsored mayhem, and buy the merchandise — T-shirts and patches — that celebrates it. One online Wagnerverse community calling itself “Reverse Side of the Metal” is a gathering platform for the mercenaries themselves. 

Making movies didn’t prevent Prigozhin from making war — just the opposite. Prigozhin has made himself indispensable in Putin’s war in Ukraine. Wagner troops have borne the brunt of the fighting in some of the war’s fiercest battles, including the bloody siege of Bakhmut. Last September, a grainy video surfaced showing Prigozhin addressing convicted felons at a penal colony several hundred miles east of Moscow. He offered them early release from prison if they signed up to fight in Ukraine. “Who do we need?” Prigozhin barked, “We need shock troops!” Volunteers would receive a presidential pardon after six months of service and, if needed, a burial at the site of their choosing. He gave them five minutes to decide. 

In the months since that video was released, Prigozhin has sent tens of thousands of these prisoners to front lines in Bakhmut and elsewhere, using them as cannon fodder in so-called “wave assaults” designed to overwhelm Ukrainian lines. US officials have estimated that as many as 20,000 Wagner soldiers have been killed or injured since the war began. Deserters have been executed.

[It’s certainly selling the war at home, and as THR notes, in certain places abroad as well. Government-tied propaganda films are nothing new, of course, but they are (and should be) suspect to Western sensibilities. The more interesting subtext is that this may explain Prigozhin’s leverage in Russia, even to the point of being critical of the war effort, more than the military force Prigozhin controls in the Wagner brigades. — Ed]