The Wagner group is a private military company - of mercenaries - founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Active since 2014, it currently has around 50,000 men.
We hear of them for the first time in Crimea and then in Dobass in the civil war which then resulted in the real war between Ukraine and Russia, a conflict in which the Wagner group has a leading role in helping the Russian regular army.
On July 24, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin marched with his men towards Moscow in an attempt at a coup d’état which was later not implemented, falling back towards Belarus 200 kilometers from Moscow.
In addition to Europe, the Wagner group also operates in Africa - again under a mandate from Russia - in Sudan and Central African Republic while in Asia its services are for the central government of Syria.
