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Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies
Michael Shirley
Europe, Russia & Eurasia, Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies

CERES graduate Michael Shirley's essay selected for the National CASIS-CSIS Essay Competition

September 1, 2023

Congratulations to Michael Shirley for the selection of his essay as the top graduate essay in 2023 for the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) National Essay Competition supported by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

 

Munk School

Michael Shirley's essay examines the role of the private military company( PMC), Wagner, during the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He wanted to discover what purpose a PMC served if Russia was planning to utilize its traditional armed forces. Through the analysis of pro-Russian and Wagner affiliated chat rooms on the Telegram social media platform, he discovered, in short, that Wagner out-performed the traditional Russian forces and were incredibly effective in promoting Russian propaganda despite the shortcomings of Russia’s forces.