Fake News Alert: Reports About Nepali Gorkhas Join... https://korybko.substack.com/p/fake-news-alert-report...

Fake News Alert: Reports About Nepali

Gorkhas Joining Wagner En Masse Are
Suspicious
ANDREW KORYBKO
28 DE JUN. DE 2023

6 1 Share

At best, regional media were confused by the DC-based Diplomat’s suspiciously

timed piece or wanted to generate clickbait, while the worst-case scenario is that
some are deliberately spreading disinformation.

South Asia has been hit by a fake news cyclone in recent days a�er reports began
virally circulating ©about
2023 Andrew
Nepali Korybko
Gorkhas ∙ Privacy ∙ Terms
allegedly ∙ Collection
joining Wagnernotice
en masse. The DC-
Substack is the home for great writing
based magazine “The Diplomat” started this narrative trend on 17 June in their piece

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that ampli�ed local reports about that country’s citizens who allegedly volunteered to
join the Russian Armed Forces. This more popular outlet’s article didn’t mention
Wagner, but it served the purpose of planting this general idea in its international
audience’s minds.

A�er Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt last weekend, these reports were then picked
up by regional media. Some might have been innocently confused into equating a
statistically insigni�cant number of reported Gorkha recruits into the Russian Armed
Forces with joining Wagner while others might have exploited that latter group’s
newfound infamy for clickbait purposes. It also can’t be discounted that some of
these outlets might even have ulterior motives related to sowing distrust between
Russia and South Asia.

Their speculative intentions aside, there are three reasons to be suspicious of these
reports. For starters, there’s a major legal di�erence between foreigners joining the
Russian Armed Forces and them joining Wagner, especially in light of recent events
that will likely result in the latter’s dissolution. Second, regardless of whichever of
these two anyone abroad might have previously joined, they were almost certainly
participating in the special operation and not �ghting anywhere else unless they
speak Russian.

This assessment is based on the fact that perfect interoperability between units isn’t
required for holding back Kiev’s NATO-backed countero�ensive or pushing across
the frontlines. By contrast, it’s a prerequisite for carrying out highly specialized
tactical operations in the unconventional warfare environments that characterize
Wagner’s activities in Africa and West Asia. With this in mind, all personnel from
South Asia would have only fought in the special operation, not in Africa or West
Asia.

The �nal reason to be suspicious of these latest reports is that they went viral in the
immediate a�ermath of Prigozhin’s failed coup attempt. Whether inadvertently due
to the earlier mentioned reasons related to clickbait and confusion, or deliberately as
a result of a Western intelligence operation, the proliferation of these reports in this
sensitive context could cause problems between Russia and its South Asian partners
who serve as one of the pillars of its non-Western strategy.

To explain, local governments might be misled into scrutinizing the activity of all
Russians in their country if they fell for thinking that Wagner is recruiting their

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citizens, which could lead to discrimination if it gets out of control and thus damage
bilateral relations. Likewise, some in Russia might be misled into thinking that local
governments could be colluding with Wagner despite last weekend’s incident, which
they might suspect is driven by anti-state purposes inspired by Western intelligence
agencies.

These three points lend credence to the conclusion that the latest cyclone of reports
about Nepali Gorkhas joining Wagner is inaccurate and inorganic since there’s no
evidence of them being recruited en masse while there are reasons why foreign spy
agencies would want this false claim to go viral. At best, regional media were
confused by the DC-based Diplomat’s suspiciously timed piece or wanted to generate
clickbait, while the worst-case scenario is that some are deliberately spreading
disinformation.

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