‘Death is our business’
In Season 2, Episode 12 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by the journalist John Lechner to discuss his new book, Death is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare. They discuss the Wagner Group’s soft power strategy in Africa, including its use of films and beauty pageants, as well as its corresponding popularity in countries like the Central African Republic. They also examine the patterns of recruitment and how its mercenaries are already “bringing the war home” to Russia.
John also reflects on his own experiences interviewing dozens of Russian mercenaries and on being seized and interrogated for two days in Mali. John outlines his view that the Wagner Group’s legacy is drawing Russia into Africa and transforming it into a major security player on a strategic continent.
“I do think that if and when we do see a ceasefire in Ukraine, the pool of recruitment for PMCs globally is going to jump incredibly… With the Russians, but I’m sure we’ll see a Ukrainian version of it as well.”
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About the podcast
Guns for Hire podcast is a production of the Atlantic Council’s North Africa Initiative. Taking Libya as its starting point, it examines the causes and implications of the increasing use of mercenaries in armed conflicts.
The podcast features guests from many walks of life, from ethicists and historians to former mercenary fighters. It seeks to understand what the normalization of contract warfare reveals about the world we currently inhabit, the future of the international system, and what war may look like in the coming decades.
Further reading
Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.
Image: Russian officers from the wagner group are seen around Central African president Faustin-Archange Touadera, as they are part of the presidential security system during the referendum campaign to change the constitution and remove term limits, in Bangui, Central African Republic July 16, 2023. REUTERS/Leger Kokpakpa REFILE - CORRECTING DATE