Though reportedly founded in 2014, the West's first tryst with the off-the-book mercenary group Wagner happened during the Syrian civil war. Before that, the world had taken note of fighters in unmarked uniforms who marched into Crimea - in possibly one of their first missions - to annex the peninsula from Ukraine but had yet to get a first-hand experience.
Since then, the Wagner Group, founded by intelligence officer Dmitry Utkin, has been known to represent Russian interests in many African countries. Multiple reports cite their involvement in civil wars in Mali, Libya, Sudan and Madagascar besides fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's men.
But, Wagner has never before grabbed the limelight like now. The once shadowy force is now not shying away from the public and is openly recruiting soldiers for the Russian army. Despite mercenary forces being 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," Dr Samuel Ramani of the Royal United Services Institute think tank told BBC.
Their involvement in Russia's Ukraine invasion came to the fore when Russian independent media began reporting that a sanctioned Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, commonly known as 'Putin’s chef', was touring Russian prisons to recruit inmates to join the fight against Ukraine, in exchange of cash and freedom.
Yevgeny Prigozhin | AP
A prisoner recalled to the Russian website Mediazone Prigozhin's speech. "We are not armed forces, but a real paramilitary organised crime group. My guys enter African countries and leave nothing alive there in two days, and now they are also destroying enemies in Ukraine. Your decision to serve in the PMC is a deal with the devil. If you walk out of here with me, you will either come back a free man or you will die. You will be required to kill enemies and follow the orders of the leadership. Those who turn back will be shot on the spot."
Such is their ruthlessness that a video recently went viral on the Telegram channel Grey Zone, widely believed to be affiliated with the group, showing a Wagner fighter being beaten to death with a sledgehammer.
Wagner adopted the sledgehammer as its symbol after reportedly using it to execute a defector from its ranks last year. "Ostentatious cruelty is part of what Prigozhin offers. Whatever it is — a staged piece, trolling or immersive performance — it does not stop being part of an advertising campaign that promotes a cult of violence," Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in the independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Still, many Russian convicts joined the Wagner group and hundreds were sent to open grounds in Ukraine. Many died, but Wagner did make some significant contributions to the Russian side. The mercenary group went public with the statement that they have captured the town of Soledar and would win over Bakhmut, a strategic and significant town, by April.
Today, as per the estimates of the US, there are 50,000 fighters from the Wagner group in Ukraine. Satellite images too show a growing Wagner burial site, illustrating the grim chances for convicted fighters on the front lines. A video from Russian media outlet RIA Novosti also shows Prigozhin visiting the cemetery.
Despite this, Prigozhin's stature continues to rise in Russia. So much so that he has taken to openly criticising Russia's top military officials. "Bakhmut would have been taken before the New Year, if not for our monstrous military bureaucracy ... and the spokes that are put in the wheels daily," Prigozhin recently told Russian state media.
Many western media pitch Prigozhin as a challenge to Putin's supremacy. According to BBC, a row broke out between its defence ministry and the Wagner Group over who should get the credit after Russia captured the town of Soledar.
That said, despite their closeness - Putin and Prigozhin met in the late nineties - it is unlikely that the Wagner chief has a major say in decision-making. "The domestic policy overseers don't like his political demagogy, his attacks on official institutions, or his attempts to troll Putin's staff by threatening to form a political party, which would be a headache for everyone in the Kremlin," according to Tatiana Stanovaya.
In an article for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Stanovaya says Prigozhin's ambitions in the political arena may damage his relations with the Kremlin.
