Marat Gabidullin, born in Siberia and raised in Uzbekistan, served in Soviet airborne forces until 1994, then spent three years in prison for shooting a crime boss. After security work in Russia, he joined the Wagner Group in 2015, rose to lead a reconnaissance company, and was badly wounded near Palmyra in 2016. He later advised the ISIS Hunters Battalion and fought at Khasham, but quit Wagner in 2019, briefly ran a Redut detachment in Syria, and left disillusioned. Gabidullin’s 2022 memoir denounced Wagner and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; he now lives in France. Journalist and researcher John Lechner reports from conflict zones and specializes in Russian PMCs. His book Death Is Our Business (Bloomsbury, 2025) charts the rise of Wagner, following earlier work such as Beginner’s Chechen and upcoming Circassian and Sango language texts. A former policy analyst for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and an emerging-markets banker at Deutsche Bank and Lazard, Lechner holds degrees from Harvard (Slavic Languages) and Georgetown (MSFS). Fluent in five languages and conversant in several others, he is a recognized expert on Russian foreign policy and has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy. He lives in Washington, DC. Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkoujZQZatbqy4KGcgjpVxQ/join Shawn Ryan Show Links SUBSCRIBE: http://www.youtube.com/@ShawnRyanShow Sign up: https://shawnryanshow.com/pages/newsletter Support the Show: https://www.patreon.com/VigilanceElite Download Free Content: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lF-8_5jwRc5eAhzDkqqCOp-6yvd05vAw?usp=sharing Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shawn-ryan-show/id1492492083 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eodRZd3qR9VT1ip1wI7xQ?si=59f9d106e56a4509 Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shawnryanshow Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnryanshow/ Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shawnryanshow/ Follow on X: https://twitter.com/ShawnRyanShow SRS Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4pqo9Uoh0WuUKxw0BmaK1yrg9Kd7E4lk #vigilanceelite #shawnryanshow Guest Links: Marat Gabidullin FB - ⁠https://www.facebook.com/share/15TBVmf2mt/⁠  Book - Moi, Marat, ex-commandant de l'armée Wagner - Les dessous de l'armée secrète de Poutine enfin révélé ⁠https://a.co/d/csNMjFH⁠  Book - Ma vérité ⁠https://a.co/d/bLZYssf⁠  John Lechner X - ⁠https://x.com/JohnLechner1⁠ IG - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/johnalechner/⁠ FB - ⁠https://www.facebook.com/john.lechner.5⁠ Book - Death Is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries and the New Era of Private Warfare ⁠https://a.co/d/7rKXhnI⁠ Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: ⁠⁠https://www.americanfinancing.net/SRS⁠ NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org ⁠https://www.expressvpn.com/SRS⁠ ⁠https://www.shawnlikesgold.com⁠ ⁠https://www.shopify.com/SRS⁠ ⁠https://trueclassic.com/SRS⁠ ⁠https://www.ziprecruiter.com/SRS 00:00 - Introduction 02:43 - The Origins of Wagner Group 03:32 - Prigozhin’s Rise: From Gangster to Military Contractor 07:06 - Wagner Group's Role in Ukraine 11:32 - Recruitment and Training in Wagner Group 20:53 - Wagner Group's Global Operations 28:42 - Syria: The Strategic Move 37:17 - The Battle of Kaan: A Clash with US Forces 55:22 - American Drones and Russian Denial 01:00:51 - US Response and Russian Confusion 01:05:44 - Battle Duration and Aftermath 01:07:45 - Collecting the Dead 01:10:43 - Wagner's Role and Russian Denial 01:14:45 - Leaving Syria and Joining RAD 01:20:44 - Wagner's Role in Ukraine 01:23:03 - Prigozhin's Ambitions and Tensions 01:23:51 - Prisoner Recruitment and Bakhmut 01:28:44 - Conflict with Russian Ministry of Defense 01:31:41 - March on Moscow 01:41:29 - Wagner's End and Aftermath 01:45:01 - Final Thoughts and Message to Putin