How Wagner Uses Anime, Action Movies and Pop Culture to Recruit Mercenaries | WSJ
The music is catchy, it's upbeat, and it's urging young Russian men to join the infamous Wagner mercenary group. There are also social media posts and highly produced action movies portraying fighters as heroes. Wagner has played a major role helping Russia's depleted forces in Ukraine. But as its own losses mount, the group needs more mercenaries to fight. It spent months recruiting from Russia's prison system but stopped the practice in February without giving a reason. With one source of recruitment gone, security analysts say online propaganda has become more important. So here's how Wagner uses this content to glorify the war and sell the idea of adventure and heroism to potential recruits.
The movie The Best in Hell was released last October. The dramatic music, special effects, and professional camera work make it look like a Hollywood action movie, but it's actually a Russian production. The one and a half hour film showing a battle between Russian mercenaries and an unnamed enemy was produced by Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Progoshin. He's a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Many experts say this and other such movies create a heroic image of the group, which Progoshin can use to boost his position within Russia. Also online are these music clips. The production is less polished, but the lyrics suggest that being a mercenary for Wagner is more exciting than everyday life in Russia.
There are even lyrics on screen for viewers to sing along with. Another video uses a female voice and characters from Japanese anime to appeal to young men. The Wall Street Journal wasn't able to determine the origins of these clips. But the journalists established that they've been posted on Wagner-linked social media accounts and pro-Kremlin online communities since September. Around the time Wagner watchers say the group expanded its recruitment efforts. Analysts say these and other similar videos on social media make the war look like a video game and trivialize violence against Ukrainians. Some security experts say Wagner has been desperate for new recruits.
In January, the US State Department said the group had up to 50,000 mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, many of them prisoners. But a Russian prisoner rights organization estimated that about 40,000 either deserted or surrendered or were injured or killed. Recent Wagner videos give a glimpse into the company's losses. Here, Yevgeny Progoshin laid flowers at a graveyard in Russia's south. Another video showed Progoshin in a morgue surrounded by piles of black body bags. Progoshin didn't respond to our request for comment on Wagner's recruitment efforts. The Kremlin also didn't reply to our request for comment on how the company's recruitment efforts helped Russia's military action in Ukraine.
It's hard to gauge the effectiveness of movies and music clips to promote Wagner to potential recruits. But analysts say this type of content normalizes the war as well as the idea that fighting for Russia is just another career path. And it helps Moscow to continue its recruitment effort as concerned mounts among many Russians over the possibility of a second mobilization.
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