The Russian mercenary group "Wagner Group", of which the Bundeswehr, among others, is currently being referred to in connection with the mission in Mali, is actually not a company.

At least it shouldn't be, because private military companies are officially banned in Russia.

Katharina Wagner

Business correspondent for Russia and the CIS based in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

Friedrich Schmidt

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

Nevertheless, “Wagner” mercenaries fought and are still fighting in various countries in which Russia is at war or has interests - for example in Ukraine, Syria and Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mozambique.

The Kremlin has no connection with the mercenaries, but there are many indications that the "Wagner" troop acts in the interests of Moscow and is active in coordination with the military, and has always been where Russia officially has nothing to do with a conflict or does not want to report on soldiers killed.

Up to 3000 euros a month

For example in Syria, where Russia officially entered the war in 2015 only with the air force at the side of dictator Bashar al Assad. Deaths of regular soldiers on the ground were later admitted. However, it is unclear how many "Wagner" mercenaries died in Syria. There are likely to be hundreds, many alone in an attempt to bring an oil plant held by Assad opponents under control in February 2018. They were repulsed by the American Air Force.

A former "Wagner" fighter later complained about the Russian military, who had assured the American contact that no Russians were involved in the attack, in order to maintain the official legend. According to numerous reports, "Wagner" mercenaries receive Russian state medals and are trained on the premises of the GRU military intelligence service in the southwestern Russian region of Krasnodar. But the incident in Syria shows the limits of the ties to the military: Freerolls remain militants.

"Wagner" particularly recruits men with experience in the military and security forces. You should be able to earn up to 3000 euros a month in combat missions. That is an enormous amount of money in Russia. And yet there were several reports of supply problems, probably because of the dangerousness of the operations. These should be particularly worthwhile for those behind them: They should be rewarded by local clients with access to raw materials, for example with diamond and gold mining rights in Sudan and the Central African Republic. Three Russian journalists were murdered there while researching "Wagner" in 2018.

It is not officially clear who owns the "Wagner Group".

Its name goes back to the nickname of one of its commanders, the former GRU officer Dmitrij Utkin, who was received during his time at "Wagner" in the Kremlin: President Vladimir Putin honored Utkin, who is said to have a preference for the composer Richard Wagner, End of 2016 as "Hero of the Fatherlands".

"Putin's cook"

Based on research by Russian journalists, the mercenaries are attributed to Putin's companion and billionaire Yevgeny Prigozhin. He is also called "Putin's Chef" because his ascent began with a luxury restaurant that the president liked to visit. In 2002, Putin brought the then American President George W. Bush with him to Prigozhin's St. Petersburg restaurant. Prigozhin later founded the catering company "Concord". Soon he received major state contracts, supplied kindergartens, schools and the entire Russian army, and organized banquets in the Kremlin at inauguration celebrations after presidential elections.

There is no official information about many other projects and companies with which Prigozhin is also associated, only credible research by independent media. In 2019, journalists showed how a number of companies that were related to Prigozhin, but acted as independent competitors, won contracts from the Ministry of Defense. The Ria Fan news agency is also credited with Prigozhin, who disseminates Russian propaganda, and political advisors who are also active in Africa.

Young men who ambush and persecute opposition activists are also linked to Prigozhin. He is also said to be the organizer of the “troll factory” in Saint Petersburg that floods social networks in Russia, Western Europe and the United States with Kremlin propaganda and fake news. In any case, the US Treasury Department considers Prigozhin to be the financier of this “troll factory” that tried to influence the American public during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Prigozhin has it because and because he is the "financier behind the private military company" Wagner "is subject to sanctions. Prigozhin - who himself denies any connection to "Wagner" - uses a "complex network" of bogus companies to circumvent the sanctions and to disguise his ownership structure,said the Treasury Department in Washington in April of this year, and expanded sanctions against affiliated business partners - which is an accolade in Russia.

The fact that Prigozhin has become very wealthy is shown by photos of his adult children on Instagram, which the anti-corruption foundation of Alexej Navalnyj was able to secure from deletion: They showed a 37-meter-long yacht with golden bed linen, a private plane and views from a palatial villa on Black Sea.