Wagner Group

Wagner Group
Группа Вагнера, ЧВК «Вагнер»
Also known asWagnerites,[2] Wagners,[3] Musicians,[4] Orchestra[3]
LeaderPavel Prigozhin[5][6]
Military leaderAnton Yelizarov[6]
FoundersYevgeny Prigozhin †
Dmitry Utkin †
Ruling bodyCouncil of Commanders[7][8]
Notable leaders
Dates of operation2014–present[11]
HeadquartersPMC Wagner Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Slogan"Blood, Honor, Justice, Homeland, Courage" (Russian: Кровь, Честь, Справедливость, Родина, Отвага)[1]
Size
Part of National Guard of Russia (since 2023)[6]
Allies
List:
Opponents
List:
Battles and wars
List:

Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
Sudanese Revolution[45]
Venezuelan presidential crisis (military training and security)[46][47]
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado[48]

Designated as a terrorist group by
Alternative logos

The Wagner Group (Russian: Группа Вагнера, romanized: Gruppa Vagnera), officially known as PMC Wagner[9] (ЧВК «Вагнер»), is a Russian state-funded[66] private military company (PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin.[9][67] The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.[68] 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.[68][69]

The group emerged during the war in Donbas, where it helped Russian separatist forces in Ukraine from 2014 to 2015.[9] Wagner played a significant role in the later full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,[70] for which it recruited Russian prison inmates for frontline combat.[71][72] By the end of 2022, its strength in Ukraine had grown from 1,000 to between 20,000 and 50,000.[73][74][75] 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.[76] Wagner operatives have been accused of war crimes including murder, torture, rape and robbery of civilians,[9][77][78][79] as well as torturing and killing accused deserters.[80][81]

Prigozhin admitted that he was the leader of Wagner in September 2022.[82][83] He began openly criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry for mishandling the war against Ukraine, eventually saying their reasons for the invasion were lies.[84] On 23 June 2023, he led the Wagner Group in an armed rebellion against Russia 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.[85]

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.[86] Western intelligence reported that it was likely caused by an explosion on board, and it is widely suspected that the Russian state was involved.[87] In October 2023, pro-Wagner groups reported that Pavel Prigozhin, son of former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has taken over command of the Wagner Group.[5]

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  3. ^ a b "Грубо говоря, мы начали войну Как отправка ЧВК Вагнера на фронт помогла Пригожину наладить отношения с Путиным — и что такое "собянинский полк". Расследование "Медузы" о наемниках на войне в Украине". Meduza. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
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  9. ^ a b c d e f Faulkner, Christopher (June 2022). Cruickshank, Paul; Hummel, Kristina (eds.). "Undermining Democracy and Exploiting Clients: The Wagner Group's Nefarious Activities in Africa" (PDF). CTC Sentinel. 15 (6). West Point, New York: Combating Terrorism Center: 28–37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  10. ^ Light, Felix (5 May 2023). "Russian ex-deputy defence minister joins Wagner as feud escalates, war bloggers report". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
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  12. ^ "British Intelligence: The number of Wagner Group personnel has decreased tenfold over the past year". odessa-journal.com. 23 August 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024. Numerous veteran Wagner personnel have followed these and other former Wagner leaders in transferring from the group. In comparison to its peak personnel count of around 50,000 in 2023, Wagner now highly likely maintains around 5,000 total personnel across its residual deployments in Belarus and Africa.
  13. ^ "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 24, 2023". Institute for the Study of War. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  14. ^ Frontline report: Prigozhin's video exposes high losses and failure of Wagner Group in battle for Bakhmut
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  45. ^ "Wagner PMC is secret detachment of Russia's General Staff of Armed Forces – confirmed by mercenaries' ID papers, says SBU Head Vasyl Hrytsak. Now we'll only have to wait for information from Russian officials as to which particular "Cathedral" in Sudan or :: Security Service of Ukraine". 29 January 2019. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019.
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    Mali: West condemns Russian mercenaries 'deployment' Archived 27 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine
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