A couple of days ago, Kazakh Mass Media released a post about a 23-year old Kazakh national, acclaimed to have been forcefully taken to Ukraine, as a PMC Wagner mercenary. After that post, the missing Kazakh bloke suddenly surfaced in cyber-space with a vide-message, in which he confirmed he really was in Ukraine and that he did so voluntarily, because he upheld the mission of the so-called Russian Special Military Operation.
Should we trust public statements of this kind and what is the retaliation a Kazakh, who follows his beliefs, shall face?
Backdrop
Let us remind ourselves of what the PMC Wagner is. Officially, it is a Russian private company, that hires mercenaries ready to fight “alien” wars. Before Ukraine, Wagner soldiers were found in Syria and Africa. The PMC could have remained outside the public spotlights, but its mercenaries gained the reputation of war criminals, involved in mass murders.
Western military experts share the opinion that the PMC Wagner is de-facto a detachment of the Russian Ministry of Defense, reporting to the Kremlin. Close relations between the PMC Boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Russian President confirm that.
Since the beginning of the armed confrontation in Ukraine, immigrants to Russia and even individuals without Russian national passports were reporting to various Mass Media, that they were being lured to join Wagner. Last summer, there were communications about Wagnerovites seeking manpower in countries neighboring Russia, including Kazakhstan.
Probably, the mother of the person discussed above took all that information into account and made a conclusion that her son had been drafted by force.
Forceful Recruitment?
Almira Bekenova, the mother of the 23-year old Kazakh national in the PMC Wagner, told journalists, that the family were surprised to learn that their son emerged in Krasnodarsky Kray (PMC Wagner’s base), instead of the City of Tomsk, where he had studied in a university. That was not what he had planned for his life initially. To hide his intentions, he told the family he would visit the region to meet a girl that nobody in the family had known before.
“We started our own investigation and it turned out that some unidentified individuals kidnapped our boy and had him join the PMC Wagner. I managed to arrange a meeting with my son in the Molkino Village, where I saw numerous Wagner billboards and flyers. They did not give me opportunity to have a proper conversation with my son. His condition was awful and he reported that he had signed any contracts” – said Almira in her interview with “Siberia. Realities”
So, Almira managed to locate her sons’ whereabouts in the PMC Wagner base in the Molkino Village of the Krasnoyarsk Kray of Russia. It was in April. The lad looked alienated and she failed to return her son back to his homeland.
The Base Commander allowed them to only talk for several minutes, and they did not have a proper conversation. The officer escorting her son kept interrupting their communication, but the son reported to the mother, that he had not signed any contract. He asked the mother to mail him some food and cash, and his outlooks indicated that he obviously needed both. The young man looked exhausted and his clothes were worn out. Soon, Wagnerovites took her son away. Almira had the impression that the son was held there by force. She did not manage to learn, why that had happened.
The woman recognized the escorting officer. It was a Kazakh national and a resident of the City of Karaganda. He told Almira about her Son’s plans and added that the lad had been assigned to serve in a good place and that he was not meant to be deployed to the war zone. Despite those words, recently the family learned that their son was deployed to Ukraine in the middle of April. Fearing for his life, they approached Mass Media and addressed the government to help return the lad back to Kazakhstan. They already have approached Prosecution General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs and some of the Russian state bodies, but with no result.
Bitter Truth?
On April 20, the first shifts took place in that mysterious disappearance situation. Mr. Aybek Smadiyarov, Head of the Foreign Ministry’s press-service made a public statement, reporting that the discussed Kazakh citizen became a Wagner mercenary voluntarily. He signed a contract with them, although the final confirmation of that fact would follow, once the Kazakh Consulate in Russia finished the proper investigation.
So, how important is it now to wait on the final confirmation from the Kazakh Consulate in Russia? The thing is, that the “supposedly kidnapped” Margulan Bekenov released a video-message, during which he testified that that it was his own idea to travel to Ukraine to fight.
He said that communications about his “kidnapping” were a Mass Media hoax, raised by his mother, who was troubled by his disappearance. He added that it was his personal choice to fight for Russia in Ukraine, because he wanted to make a contribution in the Special Military Operation.
“ I joined PMC Wagner and its lads voluntarily, to make my contribution in the Special Operation. I am feeling excellently, people here are outstanding, here I have found my place and role in life. I like it here. Mentally and emotionally I am OK. I repeat again, nobody kidnapped me”, — says Margulan and then bides adieu with a smile.
Punishment for Idealism
Of course, such a confession could not but trigger boiling discussions in the Kazakh society. Some people expressed their admiration, saying that “those Nazis must be eliminated”. Others expressed concerns about how easily a young Kazakh went to fight for another country and for alien ideology.
If to approach the situation from the standpoint of our national legislation, that legislation echoes the words of the second group. By our law, participation in armed conflicts abroad is a crime, for which one may be put in jail for 5-9 years.
The National Security Committee adds that participation of the citizens of Kazakhstan in foreign armed conflicts “ is fulfilled only in cases, envisaged in appropriate legislation, international treaties ratified by the Republic ”.
The above should be remembered by all those, intending to take part in questionable military activities. That situation would never cause concerns, if we were not aware of numerous communications in cyber-space that residents of Kazakhstan domiciled in our northern provinces were actively browsing Internet to collect information about how to join PMC Wagner. Despite ethical nuances, such information is readily available and we do not know how many Kazakh citizens have absorbed the alien ideology and violated our laws.
