美国国家公共电台 NPR--Examining the Wagner Group, a private military company that Russia has relied on

Examining the Wagner Group, a private military company that Russia has relied on

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to András Rácz of the German Council on Foreign Relations, about the Russian-allied paramilitary organization Wagner Group, which is operating in Ukraine.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The first year of Russia's war in Ukraine revealed a lot about the invaders² military. It exposed many Russian shortcomings, from logistics to leadership to training. It also exposed a supposedly private company that has advanced Russian interests around the world. Andras Racz studies the Wagner Group.

ANDRAS RACZ: Even before Ukraine, we had considerable knowledge about how the Wagner Group operates. And their activities in Ukraine has enriched this knowledge considerably³. Many of them have been taken to prisoners. There have been sizable amount of signal intelligence received and then publicized about how the Wagner Group functions.

INSKEEP: Racz is a senior fellow with the German Council on Foreign Relations, and he studies the Vagner (ph), or Wagner, Group.

RACZ: The Wagner Group is formally a private military company operated by an ex-officer of Russia's intelligence services, Mr. Dmitry Utkin. The first so action and when Russia invaded Ukraine the first time in 2014 - thereafter, Wagner played a key role in Russia's war in Syria. They been active in several African countries, advancing and fostering their Russian state interest, the interest of Russian-state companies and also some Russian oligarchs.

INSKEEP: You said they are formerly⁴ a private military contractor⁵. In reality, are they something else?

RACZ: In reality, interestingly enough, the Russian law doesn't allow the existence of private military companies. So Wagner is registered abroad and not as a single entity⁶, but as a complex network of shell companies. Wagner is more a proxy⁷ force of the Russian military, very closely connected to Russia's military intelligence. So it's more a foreign intelligence service proxy than a real private company. They played a key role in Venezuela in 2019. When Nicolas Maduro was about to lose his power, basically, Russia saved Maduro's power by sending Wagner Group operatives to Venezuela, which - operatives helped the Venezuelan president stabilized⁸ his power.

INSKEEP: Where did they get the expertise⁹ to do these things? Were these mostly former Russian military people?

RACZ: Most of them are former military. Many of them come from the Russian police, some of them from the Russian special services, few of them from foreign militaries. There have been Serbian Wagner operatives. That had been a few French among the ranks of the Wagner. But most of them are Russians, and most of them are former Russian military, but not exclusively.

INSKEEP: Were they good at what they did?

RACZ: When it comes to fighting in - let's say, in African theaters or in Ukraine in 2014, so fighting against not-too-well-organized and not-too-well-armed enemies, Wagner performed fairly well. However, since last year, when they have to fight the Ukraine against the well-equipped, well-trained, highly motivated Ukrainian regular army, their performance level, of course, drops a lot.

INSKEEP: What has their mission been in the last year in Ukraine once Russia accelerated its invasion there?

RACZ: In the beginning of the invasion, Wagner operatives were tasked to neutralize¹⁰ Ukrainian president and part of the Ukrainian government. They sent sabotage¹¹ groups into Kyiv, aiming at taking out President Zelenskyy. They failed in this task. Most of these sabotage groups were destroyed by the Ukrainians. And since summer last year, Wagner has been engaged in high-intensity fighting in the eastern Ukrainian front line, primary around Bakhmut.

INSKEEP: I wondered at the beginning of the war how it was that President Zelenskyy was able to survive. And you're telling me part of the reason was the Wagner Group was not good enough at their job.

RACZ: Ukrainians were better.

INSKEEP: And you said high-intensity fighting. That sounds like a very different thing than a commando raid or some creative operation.

RACZ: It indeed is different. And Wagner has not been performing so well in this high-intensity fighting like they performed in their previous tasks, in other front lines, in other theaters. This is particularly because in order to do high-intensity fighting, Wagner didn't have the necessary numbers. So since last summer, Russia facilitated the Wagner Group recruiting tens of thousands of Russian prison convicts, criminals who were recruited from prisons and being sent to fight in Ukraine. The deal the prisoners received - that after a short time of fighting, they were promised to get an amnesty, so their crimes forgiven, and also some cash.

And by these promises, tens of thousands of them were convinced, lured¹², persuaded in one way or another to join Wagner. And the end of last year, the rough numbers of the Wagner group - they're, like, 10,000 professional mercenaries, and around 40,000 ex-convicts. Out of this 40,000 ex-convicts, by now 80% of them are either dead or seriously wounded. So these ex-convicts didn't perform well at all in the battlefield.

INSKEEP: Well, let's talk about another aspect of Wagner's identity. The United States has now labeled it a transnational criminal organization. Do you think it meets that definition in terms of the way that ordinary people would use the words?

RACZ: To a certain extent, certainly, yes. I mean, Wagner Group has been engaged in large-scale systemic human rights violations¹³ basically in every theater that they operated. In Ukraine, it's documented that Wagner operatives committed outright¹⁴ war crimes. And Wagner Group and the service the Wagner Group provides has contributed also to large-scale siphoning off of wealth from several African countries, particularly via trading raw materials. So, yes, I think Wagner Group largely fits the definition of a transnational criminal organization. It's indeed transnational, and it's highly criminal.

INSKEEP: Well, this leads to one final question then. You have described this company that became an arm of the Russian state, a way for Russia to project power in Venezuela or Central Africa or Syria, any number of places. Is that Russian tool, global tool now damaged or broken because of its failures in Ukraine?

RACZ: This particular tool is indeed damaged. However, I think that the Russian state will keep needing ambiguity¹⁵, so the need for ambiguity is not going to disappear. Most probably now that the volunteer groups ambiguity is gone, now that the volcano group is basically uncovered, Russia will probably set up other similar proxy organizations which will fill the void that they leave behind.

INSKEEP: Andras Racz is a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Thanks so much.

RACZ: Thank you very much.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

3 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

6 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

7 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

8 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

10 neutralize   

v.使失效、抵消，使中和

参考例句：

• Nothing could neutralize its good effects.没有什么能抵消它所产生的好影响。
• Acids neutralize alkalis and vice versa.酸能使碱中和碱，亦能使酸中和。

11 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

12 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

13 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

14 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

15 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。