what is wagner group

The Wagner Group is a Russian state-funded private military company (PMC) that was founded in 2014 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russias president Vladimir Putin. The group has been used as a proxy by the Russian government to extend its influence overseas without the visibility and intrusiveness of state military forces. Wagner has been involved in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, and various African countries. The group is known for recruiting former Russian special forces officers and other elite units, and in its early days, it was thought to number about 5,000. However, in 2022, Prigozhin recruited prisoners from Russian jails to fight in Ukraine, in exchange for pardons. Although mercenary forces are technically illegal in Russia, Wagner registered as a "private military company" in 2022. The future of the group is uncertain after the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash in western Russia in August 2023.