What now for the Wagner Group and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin? For the past 14 months, Russia’s rare military successes were not achieved by the regular army, but by the militiamen of the Wagner commando. They accounted for a quarter of all Russian combatants on the frontline and took part in the toughest fighting. Wherever they go, Wagner commando sows death and desolation. Some of the victims tell of massacres, torture and rape. But Wagner is not just a military force. His men have become specialists in disinformation, not hesitating to stage fake mass graves or produce big-budget action films and propaganda cartoons. The aim: to convince local populations that Russia is their best ally. From the Ukrainian front to the mines of the Central African Republic, we lift the veil on Putin’s private army.
