NO. 23 (2142), 7 MARCH 2023 © PISM BULLETIN
Wagner Group Transforms in the Wake of the War in Ukraine
Filip Bryjka
The Wagner Group is a military organisation established in
2014 by Russian intelligence to conduct military operations
outside Russia. In the beginning, it consisted of mercenaries
with experience in the military or security services. Its
operation is overseen by the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin,
a close associate of Vladimir Putin and the owner of
a notorious troll factory, the Internet Research Agency (IRA),
as well as numerous companies involved in the exploitation
of natural resources (Lobaye Invest, M-Invest, M-Finance, M-
Finans, Meroe Gold, Evro Polis, Mercury, Veleda, Sewa
Security Services, and others). In 2014-2015, the Wagner
Group organised a separatist rebellion in Donbas and later
participated in the intervention in Syria, where it was
protecting infrastructure and conducting combat
operations. In subsequent years, it expanded its activities to
Africa, where Prigozhin’s companies received contracts for
resource extraction in exchange for military assistance. The
Wagner mercenaries are responsible for numerous human
rights violations and war crimes in Ukraine, Syria, and African
countries. Legal responsibility for its activities lies with
Russia because it exercises “effective control” over it.
Wagner Group’s Role in the Russian Invasion. Within a year
of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the Wagner Group grew from
1,000 to 50-60,000 strong. At the beginning of the invasion,
the mercenaries were primarily responsible for
reconnaissance, subversion, and special operations
(including the attempted assassination of President
Volodymyr Zelensky). Until the announcement of the partial
military mobilisation in Russia (September 2022), they
provided an alternative channel for replenishing personnel
losses by recruiting and training volunteers. Currently, about
80% of the Wagner Group’s personnel are individuals
recruited from prisons, who were offered a presidential
pardon after completing a six-month contract. After brief
training, the prisoner-mercenaries have been directed to the
most intense areas of the frontline to try to tie up Ukrainian
forces, making it difficult for the latter to conduct operations
in other directions in order to give Russia time to prepare its
spring offensive. It has come at a steep cost, though, with
losses of 50-80%. Prigozhin blames the Russian defence
ministry and general staff for this, pointing to logistical
problems and poor command quality. He uses his troll farms
and military bloggers he controls to disseminate the
criticism.
Informal Status of the Wagner Group. In the Russian legal
system, the operation of private military companies (PMCs)
is prohibited. The recruitment, training, financing and use of
mercenaries in warfare is punishable by a prison sentence of
4-8 years. Until January 2023, the Wagner Group was
deliberately unregistered, allowing the Russian authorities
to deny ties to the organisation and reduce the political and
image costs of its use. The PMC’s informal status also gave
the Russian authorities additional leverage over the group.
In the past, the FSB has arrested members of other
companies (e.g., Slavic Corps, ENOT Corps) for
insubordination. Previous attempts to legalise PMCs in
