The Wagner Group also known as PMC Wagner, is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The group operates beyond the law because private military contractors are officially forbidden in Russia. Some sources note that while the Wagner Group itself is not ideologically driven, various elements of Wagner have been linked to neo-Nazis and far-right extremists.
Foreign Policy (FP) reported on March 15 that the propaganda campaign has extolled the Wagner Group as hunting neo-Nazis and extremists. “Yet the group’s own ties to the Russian far-right are well documented: The likely founder of the group has the logo of the Nazi Schutzstaffel tattooed on his neck. Various elements of the current Wagner Group have ties to neo-Nazis and far-right extremism,” FP said.
The group reportedly came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in Ukraine, where it aided separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics from 2014 to 2015.
The company’s contractors have reportedly taken part in various conflicts around the world—including the civil wars in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Mali, often fighting on the side of forces aligned with the Russian government.
Though welcomed by some allied factions, such as the governments of Syria and the CAR, Wagner operatives have been accused of war crimes in areas where they are deployed. The accusations include rapes and robberies of civilians, and torturing an accused deserter.
Thus, BBC News reported on October 3 that three Wagner Group mercenaries are alleged by Ukrainian prosecutors to have committed war crimes in the village of Motyzhyn near Kiev in April, alongside regular Russian troops. The prosecutors reportedly said these war crimes included murder and torture.
Some sources say that since the company operates in support of Russian interests, receives military equipment from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and uses installations of a MoD for training, Wagner Group is frequently considered an arm's-length unit of the MoD or Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU.
The group is widely believed to be owned or financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with close links to Putin. Reuters noted on September 26 that after years of denying links to the Wagner group, Prigozhin admitted in September 2022 that he 'founded' the paramilitary group.
