• Wagner Group fighters were killed in a raid on a hotel in Kadiivka.
• During Russia’s invasion and takeover of Crimea in 2014, the private military business surfaced openly.
• Wagner fighters apparently occupied the territory with “little green men.”

Ukrainian authorities claim Wagner Group fighters were killed in a raid on a hotel in Kadiivka, in Russian-occupied Luhansk.

During Russia’s invasion and takeover of Crimea in 2014, the private military business surfaced openly. Wagner fighters apparently occupied the territory with “little green men.”

Wagner emerged wherever Russia had an interest in 2015: first in Syria’s civil war on President Bashar al-side, Assad’s then Libya, the CAR, and Mali.

Wagner fighters in Syria allegedly tortured, shot, and beheaded a deserter. Russia hasn’t investigated.

Wagner stopped a rebel advance on Bangui in 2021. In the capital, a statue of a Russian soldier defending a family stands, and The Tourist glorifies the group’s deeds. Human Rights Watch accuses mercenaries of torturing, killing, and kidnapping CAR citizens.

It apparently works with Sudan’s military government to regulate gold mining. Bloggers and activists accuse Russia of backing the Sudanese coup and plundering its gold.

The EU has accused the Wagner Group of human rights abuses. The US and EU sanctioned Prigozhin for his role in the group.

Prigozhin controls the group through a network of front enterprises as “Putin’s chef.”

Prigozhin denied any involvement with Wagner for a long period and even complained to authorities when asked.

Since February, Wagner’s participation in the Ukraine battle has grown.

Prigozhin acknowledged he created the Wagner Group and recruited mercenaries in 2014 to “defend Russians” when “the extermination of the Russian population of Donbas began.”

In November, he opened the company’s St. Petersburg headquarters.

Job ads offer 240,000 Russian roubles ($4,000) each month, significantly more than a standard soldier’s pay.

Mark Galeotti, a Russian security specialist, told Al Jazeera that Wagner’s status change made him more prominent.

Once a deniable arm of the Russian state, it’s now a military extension. It’s a supply of combat troops because this is a “special military operation” and the Kremlin can’t just mobilize the men it needs.

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