first began exerting influence during Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and has since been deployed to further Russian interests in countries including Syria, Libya, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mozambique.
“There’s a trend or pattern around what happens when Wagner is involved in an armed conflict,” Sorcha MacLeod, chair of the United Nations Working Group on mercenary groups,last year. “The conflict is prolonged, involves heavy weaponry, civilians are impacted in a substantial way, human rights violations and war crimes increase substantially, and there’s no access to justice for victims.”
Prigozhin has in recent months rebuked the military leadership of Putin’s war on Ukraine, saying generals have not provided his forces with enough resources.the Ukraine invasion a “racket” before announcing that the Wagner Group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don.