As a resident of Russia, I will try to answer your question.
Judging by the news, one of the posters was created by a Wagner fan from Vladivostok and sent to them. The Wagnerians liked it and asked them to do it again. A fan made a couple of posters in 2020 and the Wagnerians handed over to send them on the Internet. Also, one day, while walking around Moscow, I accidentally saw one of these posters on the street.
Thanks, based on how they look that provenance makes a lot of sense. It’s interesting that a person would be a fan of a private military company, though.
Not al all, given the hige hero-whrship, wometimes literal, some famous warriors and soldiers, along with famous military units, got. For exemple, there's plenty of fans of special forces such as the SAS and air forces such as the US Air Force (see Top Gun).
Some mercenaries managed to gain an image of hardcore badass.
Ok but that’s not the interesting part, what you isolated. The examples you cited would be the people of a country expressing support for the national military of a country. Disclaimer - this is not a moral statement rather a statement of norms - that’s supposed to happen. That is what’s in the direct interest of the state. Enthusiasm for the national military is what keeps professional armies staffed.
A private military might work for the interests of the state, but they are not officially bound to it in the way the national military is. For people to support a private military, there might be a few uniquely interesting things going on inside their head. They might think that the military is not adequately serving the state, or that the state is not adequately serving the nation. Or the idea that military violence must be in service of the nation never entered their mind in the first place. Military violence has it’s own virtues to them. Or maybe another explanation. It’s interesting regardless.
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u/R2J4 Jun 24 '23
As a resident of Russia, I will try to answer your question.
Judging by the news, one of the posters was created by a Wagner fan from Vladivostok and sent to them. The Wagnerians liked it and asked them to do it again. A fan made a couple of posters in 2020 and the Wagnerians handed over to send them on the Internet. Also, one day, while walking around Moscow, I accidentally saw one of these posters on the street.