Wagner Group

The Wagner Group (Russian: Группа Вагнера, tr. Gruppa Vagnera), officially known as PMC Wagner[9] (Russian: ЧВК «Вагнер», tr. ChVK «Vagner»[63]) is a Russian state-funded[64] private military company (PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin.[9][65] The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.[66] Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions.[66][67]

The group emerged during the Donbas War in Ukraine, where it helped pro-Russian forces from 2014 to 2015.[9] Wagner played a significant role in the subsequent full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,[68] for which it recruited Russian prison inmates for frontline combat.[69][70] By the end of 2022, its strength in Ukraine had grown from 1,000 to between 20,000 and 50,000.[71][72][73] It was reportedly Russia's main assault force in the Battle of Bakhmut. Wagner has also supported regimes friendly with Putin's Russia, including in the civil wars in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, and Mali.[9] In Africa, it has offered regimes security in exchange for the transfer of diamond and gold mining contracts to Russian companies.[74] Wagner operatives have been accused of war crimes including murder, torture, rape and robbery of civilians,[9][75][76][77] as well as torturing and killing accused deserters.[78][79]

Prigozhin admitted being the leader of Wagner in September 2022.[80][81] He began openly criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry for mishandling the war against Ukraine, eventually saying their reasons for the invasion were lies.[82] On 23 June 2023, he led the Wagner Group in an armed rebellion after accusing the Defense Ministry of shelling Wagner soldiers. Wagner units seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, while a Wagner convoy headed towards Moscow. The mutiny was halted the next day when an agreement was reached: Wagner mutineers would not be prosecuted if they chose to either sign contracts with the Defense Ministry or withdraw to Belarus.[83]

On 23 August 2023, Prigozhin and Wagner commanders Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov died in a plane crash in Russia, leaving Wagner's leadership structure unclear.[84] Western intelligence reported that it was likely caused by an explosion on board, and it is widely suspected that the Russian state was involved.