The medical treatment for private military contractors wounded in combat overseas, including in Libya and Syria, shows fighters have received indirect support from the country’s elite
ST PETERSBURG — A St. Petersburg clinic that is run and partly owned by people with ties to President Vladimir Putin has provided medical treatment to Russian mercenaries injured abroad, according to three people with knowledge of military contractors being treated, a clinic employee, a reporter’s witness account and company records.
The clinic’s general director, Vladislav Baranov, also has a business relationship with Putin’s elder daughter, Maria. Reuters has no evidence of the daughter’s involvement in the treatment of military contractors. Reached by phone, Baranov told Reuters: “Forget about our clinics, that’s my advice for you.” In response to written questions, he said: “I don’t want to communicate with you.”
The Russian state denies it uses mercenaries and has said those fighting in Ukraine and Syria are volunteers. Putin has said that Russian private military contractors were present in Syria, but that they provided security services and that they have nothing to do with the Russian state or its army and have the right to work in any country as long as they don’t violate Russian law by taking part in combat.
The Sogaz clinic has offered services to Wagner fighters since at least 2016, according to the former Wagner fighter who was treated at the clinic. He said he had been treated for an injury in recent years in the same clinic along with five or six other wounded mercenaries. He had sustained the injury in Syria, he said.
She has previously pursued a biomedical career specializing in the endocrine system and did so using a married name, Faassen, Reuters has reported.
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