the paramilitary group Wagner opens its first headquarters in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Wagner now has a storefront. The Russian paramilitary group inaugurated its “SMP Wagner Center” on Friday, November 4, brand new premises located in Saint Petersburg (Russia). This is the first public headquarters of this confidential group, whose mercenaries are currently deployed in Ukraine but also in countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

The complex is intended to accommodate third-party companies and must in particular “hosting inventors, designers and computer scientists”, explained at the end of October the founder of Wagner, the Russian businessman Evguéni Prigojine. All glass and steel, the building has exhibition rooms in which drones for military use are installed.

The paramilitary group thus continues its transformation and its installation in the security and media landscape in Russia. Until now silent on the subject, Evguéni Prigojine recently confirmed having founded Wagner. He has since publicly criticized Russian military cadres and senior politicians in Russia.

“Evgeny Prigojine and his group are gaining notoriety, and are rising in the hierarchy of Russian political and economic elites”explained to franceinfo on October 31 the researcher Maxime Audinet, specialist in Russian influence strategies. “The ‘SMP [société militaire privée] Wagner’ seems to become a brand, a marketing object intended to recruit new recruits”.

According to Evguéni Prigojine, this HQ should serve to “increase Russia’s defense capabilities” with possible “branch openings”“if the adventure is conclusive” he said on the social network VKontakte. But it is not a recruitment center for as much, assured representatives of the group on the spot. By mixing private security, business and conflict subcontracting for Russia in particular, Wagner continues to operate in a gray area – which is why the group is sometimes considered a semi-private group, sometimes a semi-state actor. .