We should not believe that the Wagner Group is doing or working for any good in the world. They are certainly not heroes.
The BBC has some good background:
The Wagner Group (officially called PMC Wagner) was first identified in 2014, when it was backing pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
At that time it was a secretive organisation, operating mostly in Africa and the Middle East, and is thought to have had only about 5,000 fighters - mostly veterans of Russia’s elite regiments and special forces.
Since then, it has grown considerably.
“Wagner almost certainly now commands 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the Ukraine campaign,” the UK Ministry of Defence said in January.
It said the organisation started recruiting in large numbers in 2022 because Russia had trouble finding people for the regular army.
About 80% of Wagner’s troops in Ukraine have been drawn from prisons, the US National Security Council said at the start of this year.
Although mercenary forces are illegal in Russia, the Wagner Group registered as a company in 2022 and opened a new headquarters in St Petersburg.
“It is openly recruiting in Russian cities, on billboards, and is being named in Russian media as a patriotic organisation,” says Dr Samuel Ramani, of the Royal United Services Institute think tank.
…
Since 2015, Wagner Group mercenaries have been in Syria, fighting alongside pro-government forces and guarding oilfields.
There are also Wagner Group mercenaries in Libya, supporting the forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar.
The Central African Republic (CAR) has invited the Wagner Group to guard diamond mines, and it is thought to be guarding gold mines in Sudan.
Wagner members have been operating in Syria.
The government of Mali, in West Africa, is using the Wagner Group against Islamic militant groups.
Prigozhin is thought to make money from these Wagner Group operations. The US Treasury says he uses its presence to enrich mining companies, which he owns, and it has placed them under sanctions.
There are a lot of mercenaries making their fortunes off of wars, weapons, natural resources, gold, diamonds and oppression of people. And I wonder how much our own American-brewed Erik Prince and his Blackwater and current brand of murderers is guilty of. Maybe it’s time to place them under sanctions.
Deep Bow to you today, @irasdad
