Who are Wagner’s militiamen? Recruited from prisons, genocidal xenophobic race-haters and neo-pagans. Wagner Group founded in 2013, involved itself in the Ukrainian conflict with 50 thousand men (40,000 released convicts) but suffered many losses.

The militia was born following the disbandment due to a series of scandals of the Slavonic Corps, another private military company that operated in Syria offering security services to the Russians. The name Wagner comes from the German composer and was chosen by its first leader, Dmitri Utkin, a former GRU military intelligence officer, because he was codenamed for his passion for ideology.

‘Putin’s secret legion’ or ‘Brigade of Darkness’, as it has been dubbed over the years, looks at xenophobic nationalism Slavic neo-paganism which has spread in Russia since the 1970s. It is not thought to have any credible links to far-right groups in Russia and elsewhere.

It is estimated that more than 80% of the militia has been recruited in prisons, the rest being mercenaries. The most experienced elements are retired veterans of the Russian security forces and intelligence but also former soldiers of Slavic countries such as Serbia. For training (in a centre very close to the GRU base) and for armaments they are comparable to the best Western ‘counterparts’, such as the US ‘contractors.’

Wagner was first used during the War of Donbas, between 2014 and 2015, in support of separatist forces in Donetsk and Lugansk. Then the militia fought in Libya, Syria, and Mali, until the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Here, in the first months of the conflict, they tried several times to organize the assassination of President Zelensky.

The Kremlin used the Wagner as a private army to participate undercover or otherwise increase military presence in conflicts, minimizing official casualties and thus safeguarding popular support.

In several theatres, the militiamen have been accused of war crimes, such as torture or rape. Moscow would spend up to $100 million (€90 million) a month to maintain the mercenary force. Although the government has no official ties to the Wagner group, the Duma (the lower house of parliament) passed a law punishing up to 15 years in prison for anyone caught discrediting volunteer groups fighting in Ukraine.

The mercenary ‘Convict Battalion’ has many rivals among the top Russian military, starting with the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces and architect of the war in Ukraine. Before the failed coup of June 26, its leader promised a public hanging of Sergei Shoihui in Moscow’s Red Square. With the invasion of 2022, Wagner has emphasised its independence from Moscow and is seen by Russians as a patriotic organization that opposes the oligarchs.

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