© Getty Images

How big are they? -

UK officials believe the Wagner Group makes up about 10% of Russia's forces in Ukraine, reports the BBC. The Ministry of Defence says "Wagner almost certainly now commands 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the Ukraine campaign."

© Getty Images

It expanded significantly in 2022 -

Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Wagner Group was believed to have had only about 5,000 fighters. The UK Ministry of Defence says Wagner started recruiting in large numbers in 2022 because Russia was struggling to find people for their state army.

© Getty Images

Troops recruited from prisons -

About 80% of Wagner's troops in Ukraine have been recruited from prisons, according to the US National Security Council. Around 40,000 of the 50,000 fighters are believed to be convicts, most of whom were experienced former soldiers, and many of whom were actually from Russian elite regiments and special forces—meaning they're already trained.

© Getty Images

They're technically illegal -

Although mercenary forces, or private military companies (PMC), are technically illegal in Russia, the Wagner Group registered as a company in 2022 and opened a new headquarters in Saint Petersburg. It's not, however, registered in Russia, reports the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

© Getty Images

They're not even trying to hide -

It's reportedly not registered anywhere else either, though. Because of its ambiguity, the Russian state not only tolerates but actively supports it. "It is openly recruiting in Russian cities, on billboards, and is being named in Russian media as a patriotic organization," Samuel Ramani, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told the BBC.

© Reuters

Closely tied with the Russian state -

According to CSIS, Wagner relies extensively on Russian military infrastructure—including using a shared base, Russian military aircraft for transportation, and military healthcare services. The Russian state has also reportedly supplied the Wagner Group with passports, and supported them via presidential-level political intervention.

© Getty Images

Plausible deniability -

Russia might favor PMCs because not only are they more flexible and cheaper than the state military, but also because they can employ them as political-military tools of state influence, which covers them in the safety of plausible deniability, CSIS reports. The perceived separation from the Russian state also allows Russia to hide personnel losses from the public.

© Getty Images

In Ukraine, 2022-2023 -

Many reports have come out about the heavy involvement of the Wagner Group in Russian efforts to capture the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine. According to some Ukrainian troops, Wagner fighters have been sent into attacks in large numbers over open ground, with many killed as a result—satellite images of growing Wagner burial sites can prove it.

© Reuters

Conflict with Russian troops -

When Russia claimed to have captured the town of Soledar, near Bakhmut, the Wagner Group fought with Russia's defense ministry over who should get the credit, particularly because the defense ministry did not mention that Wagner was involved at all. It soon conceded that its mercenaries had played a "courageous and selfless" role, as per the BBC.

© Getty Images

How did the Wagner Group start? -

Former Russian army officer Dmitry Utkin is believed to be one of the founding members. A veteran of Russia's Chechen wars, Utkin is thought to have been Wagner's first field commander and to have named the group after his former radio call sign.

© Getty Images

The current head -

Yevgeny Prigozhin is believed to be co-founder and current head of the Wagner Group. He's a wealthy financier that was nicknamed "Putin's chef" because he met Russia's president many years ago when he was a restaurateur and provided catering for the Kremlin. According to ABC News, Prigozhin previously denied having any role with the group, before reversing his claim in fall of 2022.

© Getty Images

Prigozhin's election interference -

In 2018, Prigozhin was charged by US prosecutors for his suspected role in founding the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Russian "troll farm" that used digital campaigns to increase tensions in the US—particularly conspiring to "defraud the United States... for the purpose of interfering with the US political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016." On February 14, 2023, he admitted he did indeed create and manage the IRA.

© Getty Images

Prigozhin's election interference -

The charges described tactics including creating false online personas and posing as US citizens. A Kremlin spokesman reportedly said at the time that the case was "absolutely unsubstantiated," but in November 2022 Prigozhin said on social media that "we have interfered [in elections], are interfering and will interfere," the AP reported.

© Getty Images

Wagner Group's first operation -

According to Catrina Doxsee, an expert on the Wagner Group from the CSIS, Wagner's first operation was the Ukrainian-Russian conflict in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula. It's believed that in the weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Wagner carried out "false flag" attacks to give the Kremlin a pretext for attacking, reports the BBC.

© Getty Images

Weapons from North Korea -

Russia can't reasonably supply Wagner with weapons because that would remove its plausible deniability. Rather, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters in December 2022 that Wagner has been buying weapons from North Korea to be used in Ukraine.

© Getty Images

They're operating around the world -

Multiple sources have reported that Wagner has been active in several African and Middle Eastern countries, participating in regional conflicts, exploiting resources, and, as mentioned before, spreading Russia's influence without dirtying the state's hands or drawing too much attention.

© Getty Images

Syria -

The Wagner Group sent mercenaries to Syria beginning in 2015 to fight alongside the Assad regime and guard oil fields during the ongoing Syrian civil war. A report by the CSIS claims Wagner personnel regularly fly in and out of Syria on Russian military transport aircraft.

© Getty Images

Central African Republic -

The Russian mercenaries have also been sent to the Central African Republic to reportedly guard diamond, gold, and uranium mines. Human Rights Watch says it collected evidence that Wagner fighters have committed grave abuses against civilians there with complete impunity since 2019, the BBC reports. Pictured here are the First Secretary at CAR’s Russian Embassy, Special Security Advisor to the CAR President, and the Minister of Communication at a meeting regarding an incident in 2018 when three Russian journalists were killed in the CAR while reporting on the so-called Wagner Group.

© Getty Images

Libya -

There are also reportedly Wagner Group mercenaries in Libya, in northern Africa, who are supporting renegade Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar's forces. The CSIS says their operatives there are supplied by Russian military cargo aircrafts. Pictured is Khalifa Haftar leaving Russia's Foreign Ministry after a meeting with Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs in Moscow in 2016.

© Getty Images

Mali -

The government of Mali, in West Africa, is reportedly also using the Wagner Group. In April 2022, suspected Russian mercenaries were among those accused in a Human Rights Watch report of executing about 300 people in central Mali. Pictured are supporters of Malian Armed Forces holding a Russian flag as they gather at Independence Square in Bamako on May 28, 2021 to celebrate the coup led by the vice president of the transitional government, Assimi Goïta.

© Getty Images

What is their gain? -

Prigozhin, a financier, is believed to be making lots of money from Wagner Group operations abroad. The US Treasury says he uses the group's presence to enrich mining companies that he owns, which may explain the specific choice of locations wherein the Wagner Group can be found—including Ukraine's Bakhmut, which has salt and gypsum mines in the area.

© Getty Images

Stories from the inside -

Andrey Medvedev, a former commander with the Wagner Group, deserted the mercenaries and claimed asylum in Norway in January 2023. He claims to have left after witnessing war crimes in Ukraine.

© Reuters

Stories from the inside -

Medvedev said he was contracted for four months in 2022, and fled in November after being informed that the group intended to extend his contract indefinitely. His escape is believed to be the first known instance of one of the group's soldiers defecting, which perhaps isn't surprising since the war crimes he listed included seeing "deserters being executed" by the Wagner Group's internal security service.

© Reuters

War crimes in Ukraine -

Ukrainian prosecutors alleged that three Wagner Group mercenaries killed and tortured civilians near Kyiv in April 2022, alongside regular Russian troops. According to the BBC, German intelligence also alleges that Wagner mercenaries likely massacred civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, in March 2022.

© Getty Images

Crimes around the world -

The United Nations, and the US and French governments, have accused Wagner mercenaries of committing rapes, robberies, and other human rights abuses against civilians in the Central African Republic.

© Getty Images

Crimes around the world -

In 2020, the US Department of Defense accused Wagner mercenaries of violating a UN arms embargo by planting landmines and other improvised explosive devices in and around the Libyan capital of Tripoli without regard for the safety of civilians. In 2021, the International Federation for Human Rights and others helped file suit against Wagner Group fighters, alleging they were responsible for a "murder committed with extreme cruelty" after a Syrian man was killed in 2017.

© Getty Images

The US labeled the Wagner Group as criminals -

In 2023, the US labeled the group a "significant transnational criminal organization" and levied new sanctions against them in hopes "to degrade Moscow's capacity to wage war against Ukraine." The US Treasury sanctioned nine people and 14 entities in Russia, China, the Central African Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, mostly with alleged Wagner connections.

© Getty Images

But they're covering their sanction losses -

Doxsee explained that Wagner deals with financial punishments like that of the US sanctions by exploiting the natural resources of vulnerable nations. "Wagner's ability to mine for gold and smuggle it out of the country has actually allowed Wagner and oligarchs like Prigozhin and others in Moscow to soften the blow of some of the Western sanctions," she said.

© Reuters

What can be done? -

András Rácz wrote for the CSIS that since Wagner is clearly tied up with Russian powers but continues functioning under the cover of a private company, the key to dealing with them begins by changing the narrative. "Instead of using the Russian narrative, according to which Wagner is a private military company, Wagner should be viewed as a classic proxy organization and handled accordingly."

Sources: (CSIS) (ABC News) (BBC)

© Reuters