The American raid targeting regime loyalists near Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria on the night of February 7-8 killed over 150 Russian “mercenaries” working for the “Wagner Group,” western officials confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The group is associated with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is also known as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “chef”. According to Russian media, the Wagner Group is directly funded Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman who made his fortune in the culinary world.
The Washington Post published intelligence reports that said the Wagner Group carried out an anti-US attack after Prigozhin received a "green light" from the Kremlin. Prigozhin had informed regime head Bashar Assad last month to expect a “pleasant surprise” between February 6 and 9.
The real surprise however was that the US military bombed a convoy of pro-regime militias, including Russian "mercenaries", who tried to control a gas plant and oil wells under the control of Washington's allies.
The Russian oligarch is believed to control the Russian mercenaries who attacked US troops and their allies in Syria this month. He was in close touch with Kremlin and Syrian officials in the days and weeks before and after the assault, according to US intelligence reports.
In intercepted communications in late January, Prigozhin told a senior Syrian official that he had “secured permission” from an unspecified Russian minister to move forward with a “fast and strong” initiative that would take place in early February.
According to the draft agreement and the documents obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, Prigozhin visited the Russian-operated Hmeimim base, negotiated with officials of the Oil Ministry in Damascus to sign a "quota" contract, and showed interest in all energy sources, including those controlled by Washington's allies.
A Syrian businessman, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said that he met Prigozhin at the Hmeimim base at least twice. He added that the Russian businessman was shuttled in with private jet and wore civilian clothes and a military jacket.
He treated the Russian officers with arrogance, the businessman added.
He pointed out that the two meetings he had months ago showed “his intention to control the oil and gas fields in Syria and that he is fully ready to sign a contract for the operation of these fields.”
According to the US Treasury Department, Prigozhin owns a Russian company called Evro Polis, which, according to the Russian news site Fontanka, struck a deal in 2016 with the Syrian regime to receive a 25 percent share of oil and natural gas produced on territory recaptured from the ISIS terrorist organization.
Most of those fields are on the eastern side of the Euphrates River, where Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, backed by US forces, have been advancing on ISIS.
Russia has been cautious in averting a repeat of its Afghanistan experience and so it has avoided sending troops to Syria. It has instead been relying on the Lebanese “Hezbollah”, Syrian regime forces and Chechen military police, as well as mercenary companies. This is where the Wagner group comes in.
However, it remains to be seen whether it has a legal presence in Syria, especially since private security companies are banned in Russia.
Prigozhin has known Putin since the 1990s, when they both lived in St. Petersburg and Putin was the city’s deputy mayor. Prigozhin ran a network of hot dog stands, and then launched one of Russia’s first grocery chains, according to the Medusa Project website. In 1997, he opened a restaurant on a ship docked on the Neva River, which became the go-to spot for hosting dignitaries, such as former US President George W. Bush and former French President Jacques Chirac.
