Bulsha:- British military intelligence says 1,000 mercenaries from Russia's private military company, the Wagner Group, are being deployed to eastern Ukraine.
The group has been active for the past eight years in Ukraine, Syria and African countries and has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
How did the Wagner Group originate?
A BBC investigation into the Wagner Group has uncovered the alleged involvement of a 51-year-old former Russian military officer, Dmitri Utkin. He is considered the founder of Wagner and previously named the group after his own nickname.
He is a veteran of the Chechen war, a former special forces officer and Lieutenant Colonel of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
The Wagner Group first came into action during Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said Tracey German, professor of conflict and security studies at King's College London.
"The mercenaries are considered the 'little green men' occupying the territory," he said. "About 1,000 of his mercenaries later supported pro-Russian militias fighting for control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions."
Russian security personnel in Central African Republic: Wagner Group said to be operational.© Getty Images Russian security personnel in Central African Republic: Wagner Group said to be operational.
British military intelligence says 1,000 mercenaries from Russia's private military company, the Wagner Group, are being deployed to eastern Ukraine.
The group has been active for the past eight years in Ukraine, Syria and African countries and has been repeatedly accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
How did the Wagner Group originate?
A BBC investigation into the Wagner Group has uncovered the alleged involvement of a 51-year-old former Russian military officer, Dmitri Utkin. He is considered the founder of Wagner and previously named the group after his own nickname.
He is a veteran of the Chechen war, a former special forces officer and Lieutenant Colonel of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
The Wagner Group first came into action during Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said Tracey German, professor of conflict and security studies at King's College London.
"The mercenaries are considered the 'little green men' occupying the territory," he said. "About 1,000 of his mercenaries later supported pro-Russian militias fighting for control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions."
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"Wagner usually recruits army veterans who need money to pay off debts," said Samuel Ramani, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. "They come from rural areas because there, for them, the opportunities to make money are few."
"Deploying mercenaries is against the Russian constitution", German said.
"However, Wagner gives the government undeniable power. Wagner can get involved abroad and the Kremlin can argue: it has nothing to do with us."
Who funds the Wagner Group?
Some suspect Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, is secretly funding and overseeing the Wagner Group.
Mercenary sources told the BBC that his training center was in Mol'kino, southern Russia, close to a Russian military base.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied Wagner had any ties to it.
A BBC investigation identifying Utkin's ties to the Wagner Group also linked Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch known as "Putin's chef" - so named because he was a restaurant owner who later provided catering to the Kremlin.
Many Prigozhin companies are currently under US sanctions because of their "evil political and economic influence around the world." He has always denied any ties to the Wagner Group.
Where does the Wagner Group operate?
In 2015, the Wagner Group began operating in Syria, fighting alongside pro-government forces and also guarding oil fields.
The group has been active in Libya since 2016, supporting forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar. It is estimated that up to 1,000 Wagner mercenaries took part in Haftar's advancement to official government in Tripoli in 2019.
In 2017, the Wagner Group was invited to the Central African Republic to look after a diamond mine. They also reportedly work in Sudan, guarding gold mines.
In 2020, the US Treasury said Wagner was "acting as a cover" in those countries for Prighozin-owned mining companies, such as M Invest and Lobaye Invest. The companies were also sanctioned by the US.
Recently the Wagner Group was invited by the Malian government in West Africa to protect it from attacks by Islamic militant groups. His arrival in 2021 influenced France's decision to pull its troops out of the country.
Samuel Ramani said that the Wagner Group has a total of 5,000 mercenaries operating worldwide.
What crime is Wagner suspected of committing?
The United Nations (UN) and the French government have accused Wagner's mercenaries of raping and looting civilians in the Central African Republic and the European Union has imposed sanctions on them for this.
In 2020, the United States military accused Wagner's mercenaries of planting landmines and other improvised explosive devices in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and beyond.
"The use of landmines and other traps by the Wagner Group is sacrificing innocent civilians," said Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, director of intelligence at the US Army's Africa Command.
What is the Wagner Group doing in the current Ukraine war?
In the weeks leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is thought the Wagner Group mercenaries carried out "false-flag" tactics in eastern Ukraine to give Moscow an excuse for an invasion, Tracey German said.
Now, several messages have sprung up on Russian social media to recruit mercenaries by inviting them on a "picnic to Ukraine". However, this mercenary group goes by other names, such as "The Hawks."
Candace Rondeaux, professor of Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European studies at Arizona State University said this may mark an attempt to avoid Wagner's name because "it's a tainted name".
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