Oddbean

'They would send small infantry groups to try to attack #Ukrainian positions. And if these groups were killed, they would send another group and then another. So eventually, they succeeded in capturing #Bakhmut , but this came at a very big price. According to some reports, #Wagner lost half of its personnel - they started with 50,000 and ended up with half of that. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3t5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw

' #Wagner is also known for its cruelty towards #Ukrainian s… This included women, children, elderly people, but of course, this is not the only #Russian unit to have killed civilians in #Ukraine .

As #Wagner built a reputation for cruelty abroad, its popularity skyrocketed back home, in #Russia 'At that time, wagner’s presence exploded online. Many fan groups appeared on social media, online marketplaces started selling knock off memmorabilia, like patches, flags, T shirts, etc. wagner recruitment ads for the first time appeared on #Russian streets. So outside of TV and maybe state newspapers, wagners presence grew exponentially' #TheGlobalJigsaw https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb

' #Poland , #Latvia and #Lithuania all share a border with #Belarus and they all took measures to increase border security. After reports emerged that #Wagner was being redeployed to Belarus, Lithuania closed two border checkpoints. Latvia and Poland sent additional forces to protect the border - Poland sent around 10,000 additional troops' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw

'Then at the end of July, the #Polish PM announced that #Wagner was sending forces to the so called Suwalki gap, which is the Polish border with #Lithuania... #Poland remains a target for all kinds of #Russian intelligent activities. For example in August, there were around several hundred #Wagner recruitment posters that appeared in #Warsaw and #Krakow.' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw

'So as long as Western weapons keep making their way to #Ukraine through #Poland, there will still be these kinds of attempts at destabilisation in Poland, be that through #Wagner or through disinformation or any other kinds of activities.' 'Wagner was one of hundreds of entities that #prigozhin had his hands on, ranging from private military companies to #propaganda to catering, which is where he made a lot of his money, to construction.' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw

'you can look at the assets that really mean something to #Russia , there's two main areas. Its #propaganda and media operations and the guns for hire… There will be a real fight within the #Russian state to gain control of these assets… following the mutiny. We saw that his media holding patriot and the 11 websites under that brand name ceased operating so essentially access was blocked. By the Russian media regulator' https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5hlb #TheGlobalJigsaw