Wagner Group

The Wagner Group first emerged in 2014, during Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The U.S. government has said that the organization is financed by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and a close associate of Mr. Putin. He has been referred to as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering business, which has staged elaborate state banquets for Mr. Putin. The group is not registered as a legal entity anywhere in the world. Mercenaries are illegal under Russian law. Increasingly, they’ve become more formalized and have started acting more like Western military contractors.