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Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine have been supported on the battlefield by tens of thousands of mercenaries from a shadowy group led by a businessman and longtime ally of president Vladimir Putin.
The Wagner Group is a private military company under the control of Yevgeny Prigozhin that cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia – and eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014 and has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War.
In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wagner has been a key part of Moscow’s fighting force, but a power struggle between the Kremlin and the outspoken Mr Prigozhin threatened – for 24 hours at least – to drag Russia towards civil war.
On Friday, 23 June, when Mr Prigozhin accused his country’s defence ministry, Sergei Shoigu, of “destroying” his fighters and concocting lies to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Mr Prigozhin called for armed mutiny in an explosive rant on Telegram in which he vowed to stop the “evil” of the Kremlin’s top brass.
The Wagner Group’s leader did not go after Mr Putin in his tirade, instead alleging that for more than a year and more than 350,000 casualties into the war — a large part of which Mr Prigozhin’s group is responsible for — the Russian president had been deceived by Mr Shoigu.
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“The war was needed ... so that Shoigu could become a Marshal, so that he could get a second Hero Star… the war wasn’t for demilitarising or de-Nazifying Ukraine. It was needed for an extra star,” Mr Prigozhin said on Telegram.
Yevgeny Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin on a tour around the former’s food factory in 2010
(AP)
This outrage tuned into Mr Prigozhin and his men briefly occupying the city of Rostov-on-Don – a majort logistics hub for the invasion of Ukraine – on Saturday. They then marched on Moscow, shooting down a number of helicopters in the process.
Mr Prigozhin halted them 125 miles from the Russian capital. A deal was struck under which the mercenaries would move to Belarus in return for charges against them relating to the uprising being dropped. Mr Putin said the fighters could either leave for Belarus, come under the command of the defence ministry or go back to their families.
Before moving to Belarus, Wagner handed over its weapons to the Russian military, part of efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat posed by the mercenaries.
Mr Prigozhin – a 62-year-old ex-convict sometimes known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business has hosted dinners for the Russian president – had denied all links with the group until September last year when he announced he was “proud” to be its founder.
Armoured vehicles are seen on a street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia on 24 June, 2023
(REUTERS)
He said he founded Wagner to support Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas conflict.
“I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this,” Mr Prigozhin said. “From that moment, on 1 May 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion.”
Dmitry Utkin, a former Russian intelligence officer, is alleged to be a co-founder who remains near the top of the group’s command.
Since its formation, Wagner has been accused of committing human rights abuses in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mali and Mozambique.
Prior to admitting his involvement, Mr Prigozhin had a history of suing Russian and Western news outlets that alleged his ties to the group. His secretive stance was to protect the Wagner soldiers, he has claimed.
Wagner fighters in a Soledar salt mine after Mr Prigozhin claimed to have taken the town
(Telegram)
Mr Prigozhin was finally forced to confess his links with Wagner as the group rose to prominence in the Ukraine conflict. British intelligence puts the number of Wagner troops active in Ukraine at 50,000, comprising a quarter of Russia’s total strength.
War contractors are nothing new but military analysts say the Kremlin has been heavily reliant on Wagner due to the heavy losses incurred by official Russian forces during the war, along with difficulties in recruitment.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) first reported that Wagner had been deployed in Ukraine on 28 March 2022, little over a month into the conflict after Russian losses had already begun to hamper the pace of the initial assault.
Wagner has since then played significant roles in capturing towns such as Soledar, Popasna and Lysychansk – offering relative operational competence while the Kremlin has been forced to repeatedly switch around command of its own forces in the face of losses.
Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya
(Reuters)
Mr Prigozhin has been at pains to claim victories for Wagner in Ukraine, sometimes putting him at odds with the Kremlin line. He has even accused Russia’s defence ministry of taking credit for Wagner successes.
In the battle for Soledar, a small town subject to an intense assault as part of Russia’s still-ongoing campaign to take over the city of Bakhmut, Mr Prigozhin said his mercenaries had triumphed over Ukrainian forces days before the Kremlin said its own troops had done the same.
Bakhmut is prized by Moscow as its capture would put Russian forces in a stronger position in the goal of capturing all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas.
On 12 February, Mr Prigozhin said Wagner had taken the village of Krasna Hora near Bakhmut, making no mention of Russian forces as Moscow began to launch a major offensive targeting the Donetsk town along with several other frontline settlements.
A picture released by Mr Prigozhin’s press service shows what it said were Wagner fighters at the entrance sign to the village of Krasna Hora
(Reuters)
Speculation has raged over Mr Prigozhin’s ambitions in Russian politics and there are signs that Mr Putin is sensitive to any potential challenges by his former cook.
Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser who maintains contacts in political circles, said the Russian government extracted a promise from Mr Prigozhin that he would not create his own political movement or join a parliamentary party unless asked to do so by officials.
“They are a little afraid of him and find him an inconvenient person,” Mr Markov said.
The group, formally PMC Wagner, recently moved its headquarters to an imposing glass high-rise in St Petersburg, which also acts as a technology centre and holds exhibits of advanced weaponry along grey corridors filled with camouflaged personnel.
The Wagner Group’s headquarters in St Petersburg
(EPA)
Unsettling accounts of life in the mercenary group have surfaced recently from former members including Andrei Medvedev, who sought asylum in Norway in January after deserting a Wagner regiment in Ukraine.
The 26-year-old said sergeants were ruthless in their attempts to recruit new fighters.
“They would round up those who did not want to fight and shoot them in front of newcomers,” he alleged in an interview with CNN.
“They brought two prisoners who refused to go fight and they shot them in front of everyone and buried them right in the trenches that were dug by the trainees.”
The MoD said last July that Wagner was lowering recruitment standards to include formerly blacklisted individuals.
Andrei Medvedev in Oslo after fleeing Wagner command
(Reuters)
Mr Medvedev claimed he joined Wagner as a volunteer after serving in the Russian military. He said Wagner fighters were often sent into battle with little direction.
Two former Wagner fighters captured by Ukraine told CNN of devastating losses in assaults reminiscent of First World War charges.
Recalling his first assault near the village of Bilohorivka in Luhansk, one said: “There were 90 of us. Sixty died in that first assault, killed by mortar fire. A handful remained wounded.”
The other fighter said he was involved in a push for Lysychansk on the Luhansk-Donetsk border.
“The first steps into the forest were difficult because of all the landmines spread out. Out of 10 guys, seven were killed immediately,” he said.
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The fight went on for five days, he said. “There is no feeling attached to it. Just wave after wave. Four hundred [Wagner fighters] were brought there, and then more and more, all the time.”
Further evidence of brutality emerged on 14 February, as footage appeared to show a Russian convict who fought for Wagner being beaten to death with a sledgehammer after being accused of fleeing the war.
The UK’s opposition Labour Party is just the latest political organisation to demand the Wagner Group be classified as a terrorist organisation in response to its barbarous conduct in Ukraine and beyond.
Following Mr Prigozhin’s failed mutiny the future of the Wagner Group and its role in the Ukraine war are now uncertain. Mercenaries have started to train Belarusian special forces at a military range just a few miles from the border with Nato-member Poland.
Mr Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa while they trained the Belarusian army.
"The armed forces of Belarus continue joint training with the fighters of the Wagner PMC (Private Military Company)," the Belarusian defence ministry said.
"During the week, special operations forces units together with representatives of the Company will work out combat training tasks at the Brest military range."
The range is just 3 miles (5 km) east of the Polish border.
As of Thursday 20 July, the UK announced a wave of sanctions against individuals and businesses involved with the Wagner Group in Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.
These sanctions will limit financial freedoms by “preventing UK citizens, companies and banks from dealing with them, alongside freezing any assets held in the UK and travel bans,” the government website has said.
The UK government has accused the Wagner Group of operating in Mali, CAR and Sudan for several years and “aggressively pursuing Russian foreign policy interests in the region and providing military support to counter-terrorism operations which have seen hundreds of civilians killed.”
Mr Prigozhin has already been sanctioned by the UK as well as several of his key commanders who have participated in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
More about Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin Ukraine Russia Vladimir Putin Bakhmut War
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1/ 8What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Yevgeny Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin on a tour around the former’s food factory in 2010
AP
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Armoured vehicles are seen on a street of the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia on 24 June, 2023
REUTERS
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Wagner fighters in a Soledar salt mine after Mr Prigozhin claimed to have taken the town
Telegram
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Graves of Wagner fighters in a cemetery near the village of Bakinskaya
Reuters
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
A picture released by Mr Prigozhin’s press service shows what it said were Wagner fighters at the entrance sign to the village of Krasna Hora
Reuters
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
The Wagner Group’s headquarters in St Petersburg
EPA
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Andrei Medvedev in Oslo after fleeing Wagner command
Reuters
What is the Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin?
Getty/AP
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