Wagner Group

Russian private military company

Wagner Group

Группа Вагнера, ЧВК «Вагнер»

Logo of the Wagner Group since April 2023[1]

Also known as| Wagnerites,[2] Wagners,[3] Musicians,[4] Orchestra[3]
Leader| Pavel Prigozhin[5][6]
Military leader| Anton Yelizarov[6]
Founders| Yevgeny Prigozhin †
Dmitry Utkin †
Ruling body| Council of Commanders[7][8]
Notable leaders|

* Yevgeny Prigozhin †
* Dmitry Utkin †
* Cpt. Anton Yelizarov
* Col. Konstantin Pikalov[9]
* Col. Andrei Troshev
* Valery Chekalov †
* Col. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev[10]

Dates of operation| 2014–present[11]
Headquarters| PMC Wagner Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Slogan| "Blood, Honor, Justice, Homeland, Courage" (Russian: Кровь, Честь, Справедливость, Родина, Отвага)[1]
Size|

* 5,000 (2024)[12]
* 85,000 (2023)[13][14]
* 50,000+ (December 2022)[15]
* 8,000 (April 2022)[16]
* 6,000 (December 2017)[17]
* 1,000 (March 2016)[18]
* 250 (2014)[19]

Part of|  National Guard of Russia (since 2023)[6]
Allies|

List:

* Russian Armed Forces
* Russian separatist forces in Donbas
* Syrian Arab Armed Forces (until 2024)
* IRGC
* FACA
* Black Russians
* Azande Ani Kpi Gbe
* Libyan National Army
* Rapid Support Forces
* FADM
* FAMa

Opponents|

List:

* Armed Forces of Ukraine
* Tahrir al-Sham
* Syrian National Army
* Free Syrian Army
* Syrian Democratic Forces
* Islamic State
* Al-Nusra Front (2014–2017)
* Coalition of Patriots for Change
* Libyan Army
* Ansar al-Sunna
* Nusrat al-Islam
* Russian Armed Forces (briefly in 2023)
* CSP-PSD

Battles and wars|

List:

* Crimean Crisis[20][21]

* War in Donbas (2014–2022)
* 2014 Il-76 shootdown[22]
* Battle of Debaltseve[23][24]

* Syrian civil war
* 2015–16 Latakia offensive[25]
* Northern Aleppo offensive[26]
* Palmyra offensive (March 2016)[24]
* Palmyra offensive (2017)[27]
* Central Syria campaign
* Hama offensive[28]
* Deir ez-Zor offensive[29][30]
* Northwestern Syria campaign[31]
* Battle of Khasham[32][33]
* Rif Dimashq offensive[34]
* Operation Dawn of Idlib[35]
* 2024 Syrian opposition offensives

South Sudanese Civil War (military training and security)[36]

* CAR Civil War[37][38][39]
* Bongboto massacre[40]
* Aïgbado massacre
* March 2022 attacks

* Second Libyan Civil War[41][42][43]
* Western Libya campaign[44]

Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso
Sudanese Revolution[45]
Venezuelan presidential crisis (military training and security)[46][47]
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado[48]

* Mali War[49][50]
* Moura Massacre[51]
* Battle of Tinzaouaten[51]

* Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Battle of Donbas (2022)
* Battle of Popasna[52][53]
* Battle of Sievierodonetsk (2022)[54][55]-Battle of Lysychansk[56]
* Battle of Bakhmut-Battle of Soledar
* 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive[57][58]
* Kursk campaign

* Wagner Group rebellion
* Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
* 2024 Haute-Kotto raid

Designated as a terrorist group by|

* Estonia[59]
* France[60]
* Lithuania[61][62]
* Ukraine[63]
* United Kingdom[64]
* OSCE Parliamentary Assembly[65]

Flag|
Alternative logos|

The Wagner Group (Russian: Группа Вагнера, romanized: Gruppa Vagnera), officially known as PMC Wagner[9] (ЧВК «Вагнер», ChVK "Vagner"),[66] is a Russian state-funded[67] private military company (PMC) controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin, and since then by Pavel Prigozhin.[9][68] The Wagner Group has used infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.[69] Evidence suggests that Wagner has been used as a proxy by the Russian government, allowing it to have plausible deniability for military operations abroad, and hiding the true casualties of Russia's foreign interventions.[69][70]

The group emerged during the war in Donbas, where it helped Russian separatist forces in Ukraine from 2014 to 2015.[9] Wagner played a significant role in the later full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine,[71] for which it recruited Russian prison inmates for frontline combat.[72][73] By the end of 2022, its strength in Ukraine had grown from 1,000 to between 20,000 and 50,000.[74][75][76] It was reportedly Russia's main assault force in the Battle of Bakhmut. Wagner has also supported regimes friendly with Russia, including in the civil wars in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, and Mali.[9] In Africa, it has offered regimes security in exchange for the transfer of diamond and gold mining contracts to Russian companies.[77] Some Wagner members, including its alleged co-founder Dmitry Utkin, have been linked to the far-right, and the unit has been accused of war crimes including murder, torture, rape and robbery of civilians,[9][78][79][80] as well as torturing and killing accused deserters.[81][82]

Prigozhin admitted that he was the leader of Wagner in September 2022.[83][84] He began openly criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry for mishandling the war against Ukraine, eventually saying their reasons for the invasion were lies.[85] On 23 June 2023, he led the Wagner Group in an armed rebellion against Russia after accusing the Defense Ministry of shelling Wagner soldiers. Wagner units seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, while a Wagner convoy headed towards Moscow. The mutiny was halted the next day when an agreement was reached: Wagner mutineers would not be prosecuted if they chose to either sign contracts with the Defense Ministry or withdraw to Belarus.[86]

On 23 August 2023, Prigozhin and Wagner commanders Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov died in a plane crash in Russia, leaving Wagner's leadership structure unclear.[87] Western intelligence reported that it was likely caused by an explosion on board, and it is widely suspected that the Russian state was involved.[88] In October 2023, pro-Wagner groups reported that Pavel Prigozhin, son of former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has taken over command of the Wagner Group.[5]

## Origins and leadership

[edit]

Yevgeny Prigozhin (left) and Dmitry Utkin (right)

The Wagner Group first appeared in 2014, during the Russian annexation of Crimea.[89] Until 2022 it was unclear who founded and led the group. Both Dmitry Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin have been named as its founders and leaders. During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin claimed to have founded Wagner and he was referred to as the group's head.[83] Some sources say Prigozhin was its owner and financier while Utkin was its military commander.[90]

### Yevgeny Prigozhin

[edit]

It was long reported that Prigozhin had links with Wagner[91][92] and Utkin personally.[93][94] He was sometimes called "Putin's chef", because of his catering businesses that hosted dinners for Vladimir Putin.[95][96][97] The businessman was said to be the main funder[98][99] and actual owner of the Wagner Group.[100][101] Prigozhin denied any link with Wagner[102] and had sued Bellingcat, Meduza, and Echo of Moscow for reporting his links to the mercenary group.[84] In September 2022, he claimed to have founded the group, saying "I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion".[83] Prigozhin became Wagner's public face and was referred to as its chief, but as he had no military background, he reportedly relied on Utkin to command Wagner's military operations.[90]

### Dmitry Utkin

[edit]

Utkin was a Russian military veteran. Before his involvement with the Wagner Group, he was a lieutenant colonel and brigade commander of a Spetsnaz GRU unit,[103][11][104][105] and fought in the First and Second Chechen wars. Many sources name Utkin as a founder and the first commander of Wagner.[90][106] Reportedly, Utkin was an admirer of Nazi Germany and the group was named from his alias "Wagner".[107] The European Union sanctions against the Wagner Group name Utkin as its founder and leader.[90] It is reported that Utkin was Wagner's military commander, responsible for overseeing its military operations, while Prigozhin was its owner, financier and public face.[90] According to Bellingcat, evidence suggests Utkin "was more of a field commander" and "was not in the driver's seat of setting up this private army, but was employed as a convenient and deniable decoy to disguise its state provenance".[107]

In December 2016, Utkin was photographed with Russian president Putin at a Kremlin reception in honour of those who had been awarded the Order of Courage and the title Hero of the Russian Federation, along with Alexander Kuznetsov, Andrey Bogatov [ru] and Andrei Troshev.[108] Kuznetsov (alias "Ratibor") was said to be the commander of Wagner's first reconnaissance and assault company, Bogatov was the commander of the fourth reconnaissance and assault company, and Troshev served as the company's "executive director".[109] A few days after, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the presence of Utkin at the reception.[110][111]

### Konstantin Pikalov

[edit]

Colonel Konstantin Aleksandrovich Pikalov (alias "Mazay") was said to have been put in charge of Wagner's African operations in 2019.[107] Pikalov served as an officer in Russia's experimental military unit numbered 99795, based in the village of Storozhevo, near Saint Petersburg. The unit was tasked, in part, with "determining the effects of radioactive rays on living organisms". Following his retirement, he continued to live on the military base until at least 2012 and ran a private detective agency. In 2014 he allegedly took part in suppressing opponents of the Russian-backed president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, during the Republika Srpska general election. Between 2014 and 2017, Pikalov traveled several times to destinations near the Ukrainian border, sometimes on joint bookings with known Wagner officers.[107] Former employees of Prigozhin said Pikalov took part in military operations in Ukraine and Syria.[107]

## Organization

[edit]

Flag of Wagner Group from 2014 to April 2023.[a]

The PMC Wagner Center office in Saint Petersburg

In early 2016, Wagner had 1,000 employees,[18] which later rose to 5,000 by August 2017,[113] and 6,000 by December 2017.[17] The organization was said to be registered in Argentina[18][113] and has offices in Saint Petersburg[114] and Hong Kong.[115] In November 2022, Wagner opened a new headquarters and technology center at the PMC Wagner Center building in the east of Saint Petersburg.[116]

In early October 2017, the SBU said that Wagner's funding in 2017 had been increased by 185 million rubles ($3.1 million) and that around forty Ukrainian nationals were working for Wagner, with the remaining 95 percent of the personnel being Russian citizens.[117] One Ukrainian was killed in Syria while fighting in the ranks of Wagner in March 2016,[118] and three were reported overall to have died that spring.[119] Armenians, Kazakhs and Moldovans have also worked for Wagner.[120]

Following the deployment of its contractors between 2017 and 2019, to Sudan,[36] the Central African Republic,[37] Madagascar,[121] Libya[44] and Mozambique,[48] the Wagner Group had offices in 20 African countries, including Eswatini, Lesotho and Botswana, by the end of 2019.[122] Early in 2020, Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater private military company, sought to provide military services to the Wagner Group in its operations in Libya and Mozambique, according to The Intercept.[123] By March 2021, Wagner PMCs were reportedly also deployed in Zimbabwe, Angola, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo.[124]

According to the Financial Times, the Wagner Group does not exist as a single incorporated entity, but instead as a "sprawling network of interacting companies with varying degrees of proximity to [Prigozhin's] Concord group" – such as Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering. This abstruse structure has allegedly complicated efforts by Western governments to restrict Wagner's activities.[125]

Wagner's network of shell companies, reported to be primarily trading in illegally mined and extracted natural resources, has also been shown to have used Western banking systems to process funds without their knowledge. The Washington-based think-tank the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), uncovered leaked documents showing how in 2017 the Sudanese Mining company, Meroe Gold, acting as a shell company for the Wagner Group, was able to use financial services provided by JP Morgan Chase to process a payment to a seller in China.[126] C4ADS's report on the leaked documents showed that without the use of legitimate financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase and HSBC as intermediaries to facilitate the movement of funds, the Wagner Group would not have been able to establish a foothold in Africa.[127]

Based partly on leaked documents provided by the Dossier Center, investigative journalist David Patrikarakos has stated that Wagner has never been under the control of either the GRU or the Ministry of Defense, as has often been claimed, but is instead exclusively run by Prigozhin.[128]

### Recruitment, training, techniques

[edit]

The company trains its personnel at a Russian MoD facility, Molkino (Молькино),[104][129] near the remote village of Molkin, Krasnodar Krai.[130][131][132] The barracks at the base are officially not linked to the Russian MoD, with court documents describing them as a children's vacation camp.[133] According to a report published by Russian monthly Sovershenno Sekretno [ru], the organisation that hired personnel for Wagner did not have a permanent name and had a legal address near the military settlement Pavshino in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow.[134] In December 2021, New Lines magazine analyzed data about 4,184 Wagner members who had been identified by researchers at the Ukrainian Center of Analytics and Security, finding that the average age of a Wagner private military contractor (PMC) is forty years old and that the PMCs came from as many as fifteen different countries, though the majority were from Russia.[135]

When new PMC recruits arrive at the training camp, they are no longer allowed to use social network services and other Internet resources. Company employees are not allowed to post photos, texts, audio and video recordings or any other information on the Internet that was obtained during their training. They are not allowed to tell anyone their location, whether they are in Russia or another country. Mobile phones, tablets and other means of communication are left with the company and issued at a certain time with the permission of their commander.[136]

Passports and other documents are surrendered and in return company employees receive a nameless dog tag with a personal number. The company only accepts new recruits if a 10-year confidentiality agreement is established and in case of a breach of the confidentiality the company reserves the right to terminate the employee's contract without paying a fee.[136] According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Russian military officers are assigned the role of drill instructors for the recruits.[137][138] During their training, the PMCs receive $1,100 per month.[139]

The pay of Wagner PMCs, who are usually retired regular Russian servicemen aged between 35 and 55,[139] is estimated to be between 80,000 and 250,000 Russian rubles a month (667–2,083 USD).[140] One source stated the pay was as high as 300,000 (US$2,500).[108]

In late 2019, a so-called Wagner code of honor was revealed that lists ten commandments for Wagner's PMCs to follow. These include, among others, to protect the interests of Russia always and everywhere, to value the honor of a Russian soldier, to fight not for money, but from the principle of winning always and everywhere.[141][142] With increasing casualties on both sides in the war in Ukraine, the Russian government used the Wagner Group for recruitment. The NGO Meduza reported that the Russian Defense Ministry had taken control of Wagner's networks and was using its reputation for recruitment, but that the requirements had been reduced, with drug tests also reportedly not being done before duty.[143] According to British intelligence, since July 2022 at the latest, the Wagner Group has been trying to recruit inmates from Russian prisons in order to alleviate the lack of cadets. In return for agreeing to fight in Ukraine, the criminals are promised a shortening of the sentence and monetary remuneration.[144] BBC Russian Service reported that according to jurists, it is not legal to send inmates to war.[145] Captured and retired members report that the Wagner policy of "zeroing out" (summary execution) of fighters who retreat or desert means that in situations where regular Army units would retreat, Wagner continues its assault. "If they move forward, they at least have the chance to live another day. If they go back, they're dead for sure." A Ukrainian battalion commander reported that in intercepted radio traffic on the battlefield, Ukrainians hear "over and over" Wagner commanders giving the order: "Anyone who takes a step back, zero them out."[146]

The Wagner Group reportedly recruited imprisoned UPC rebels in the Central African Republic to fight in Mali and Ukraine. They are reportedly nicknamed the "Black Russians".[147]

### Units

[edit]

#### Rusich unit

[edit]

Main article: Rusich Group

The Wagner Group includes a contingent known as Rusich, or Task Force Rusich,[148] referred to as a "sabotage and assault reconnaissance group", which has been fighting as part of the Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.[149] Rusich are described as a far-right extremist[150][151] or neo-Nazi unit,[152] and their logo features a Slavic swastika.[153] The group was founded by Alexey Milchakov and Yan Petrovsky, both of them neo-Nazis, in the summer of 2014, after graduating from a paramilitary training program run by the Russian Imperial Legion, the fighting arm of the Russian Imperial Movement.[154][155][156] As of 2017, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and the International Criminal Court (ICC) were investigating fighters of this unit for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.[157]

#### Serb unit

[edit]

Wagner is believed to have a Serb unit, which was, until at least April 2016, under the command of Davor Savičić, a Bosnian Serb[24] who was a member of the Serb Volunteer Guard (also known as Arkan's Tigers) during the Bosnian War and the Special Operations Unit (JSO) during the Kosovo War.[158][159] His call sign in Bosnia was "Elvis".[159] Savičić was reportedly only three days in the Luhansk region when a BTR armored personnel carrier fired at his checkpoint, leaving him shell-shocked. After this, he left to be treated.[24] He was also reported to had been involved in the first offensive to capture Palmyra from the Islamic State (ISIL) in early 2016.[158]

One member of the Serbian unit was killed in Syria in June 2017,[160] while the SBU issued arrest warrants in December 2017, for six Serbian PMCs that belonged to Wagner and fought in Ukraine, including Savičić.[161] In early February 2018, the SBU reported that one Serb member of Wagner, who was a veteran of the conflict in Syria, had been killed while fighting in eastern Ukraine.[162][163] In January 2023, Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić criticized Wagner for recruiting Serbian nationals and called on Russia to put an end to the practice, noting that it is illegal under Serbian law for Serbian citizens to take part in foreign armed conflicts.[164]

## Relationship with the Russian state

[edit]

Further information: Wagner Group–Russian Ministry of Defence conflict

Wagner Group graves among other military graves in the Kurgan cemetery, Sovetsky City District, Kazan

On 27 June 2023, President Putin, while declaring an investigation into Wagner Group spending, confirmed that the Russian state fully funded it from the country's defense budget and state budget. From May 2022 to May 2023 alone, the Russian state paid 86.262 billion RUB to the group, approximately $1 billion.[165] Putin previously repeatedly denied any links between the Russian state and Wagner, stating that Wagner is a "private military company".[166][167]

Before that, many Russian and Western observers[who?] believed that the organization does not actually exist as a private military company but is in reality a disguised branch of the Russian MoD that ultimately reports to the Russian government.[168][169][170][171] The company shares bases with the Russian military,[172] is transported by Russian military aircraft,[173][174][175] and uses Russia's military health care services.[176][177][69] The Russian state is also documented supporting the Wagner Group with passports.[69][178]

The legal status of private military companies in Russia is vague: on one hand, Russian legislation explicitly prohibits "illegal armed formations and mercenary groups", but at the same time the Russian state does not prosecute numerous PMCs employing Russians and operating in Russia, including but not limited to Wagner. Viktor Ozerov once hinted that this ban does not apply for companies "registered abroad" and in such case "Russia is not legally responsible for anything". This vagueness was interpreted as a tool that enables the Russian state to selectively allow operations of PMCs it needs, while preventing creation of any PMCs that would create a risk for Putin and at the same time manage plausible deniability for their actions.[179][180]

As result, a number of PMCs appear to have been operating in Russia, and in April 2012 Vladimir Putin, speaking in the State Duma as Russian prime minister, endorsed the idea of setting up PMCs in Russia.[181][182] Several military analysts described Wagner as a "pseudo-private" military company that offers the Russian military establishment certain advantages such as ensuring plausible deniability, public secrecy about Russia's military operations abroad, as well as about the number of losses.[183][181][184] Thus, Wagner contractors have been described as "ghost soldiers", due to the Russian government not officially acknowledging them.[185]

In March 2017, Radio Liberty characterized the PMC Wagner as a "semi-legal militant formation that exists under the wing and on the funds of the Ministry of Defence".[186] In September 2017, the chief of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak said that, in their opinion, Wagner was in essence "a private army of Putin" and that the SBU were "working on identifying these people, members of Wagner PMC, to make this information public so that our partners in Europe knew them personally".[187][188] The Wagner Group has also been compared with Academi, the American security firm formerly known as Blackwater.[189]

According to the SBU, Wagner employees were issued international passports in bulk by the GRU via Central Migration Office Unit 770–001 in the second half of 2018, allegations partially verified by Bellingcat.[190][191]

In an interview in December 2018, Russian president Putin said, in regard to Wagner PMC's operating in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere, that "everyone should remain within the legal framework" and that if the Wagner group was violating the law, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office "should provide a legal assessment". But, according to Putin, if they did not violate Russian law, they had the right to work and promote their business interests abroad. Putin also denied allegations that Prigozhin had been directing Wagner's activities.[192]

Prigozhin was in a public feud with Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu.

In September 2022, Prigozhin officially admitted to founding and managing "Wagner Group" which started as a battalion participating from May 2014 on the Russian side in the War in Donbas.[193]

According to a Russia investigative media Russkiy Kriminal, the military command of "Wagner" is held directly by the GRU, including its current head Igor Kostyukov and former head of Russian SSO Aleksey Dyumin, with Prigozhin being responsible for its business administration. "Wagner" is mostly populated by current and former Spetsnaz GRU operatives, and used for operations where direct GRU participation is undesirable.[194] Russian journalists also link Prigozhin to Yuri Kovalchuk and Sergey Kiryenko, both influential figures close to Putin.[195] "Wagner's" interests in the official structures of Russian Ministry of Defense are reportedly represented by general Sergey Surovikin.[196]

Private military companies are still illegal in Russia, but with their heavy participation in the war in Ukraine they have been legitimized by being referred by the Ministry of Defense and Russian government with the umbrella term of "volunteer detachments".[197]

On 5 May 2023, Prigozhin blamed Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov for "tens of thousands" of Wagner casualties, saying "They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices."[198] In 2023, the Russian government granted the status of combat veterans to Wagner contractors who took part in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[199]

In a video released on 23 June 2023, Prigozhin said that Russian government justifications for the Russian invasion of Ukraine were based on lies.[200] He accused the Russian Defense Ministry under Shoigu of "trying to deceive society and the president and tell us how there was crazy aggression from Ukraine and that they were planning to attack us with the whole of NATO."[201]

### Wagner Group rebellion

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group rebellion

Map of the Wagner Group rebellion

On 24 June 2023, Prigozhin was accused by the Russian government of organizing an armed uprising after he threatened to attack Russian forces in response to a claimed air strike on his paramilitary soldiers. Russian security forces accused the founder of the Wagner group of launching a coup attempt as he pledged a "march of justice" against the Russian army. Prigozhin posted a voice memo claiming that Wagner had left Ukraine and was advancing on the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Senior Russian generals urged Wagner's fighters to withdraw. Meanwhile, Russia's national security service, FSB, said it had filed criminal charges against Prigozhin and moved to arrest him.[202] Prigozhin claimed that Wagner mercenary forces entered Rostov without any resistance.[203][204][205][206] A deal was eventually brokered by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko de-escalated the rebellion. According to the agreement, Prigozhin was to leave Russia for Belarus, and the criminal case against him was to be dropped. No legal action was to be taken against his troops, and the Wagner fighters were to sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.[207]

Russian president Putin had stated on 8 February 2022, that the Russian state is not involved and has nothing to do with Wagner's activities in Africa.[208] On 27 June 2023, he said that Wagner is fully funded by Russia, amounting to $1 billion from the defense ministry and state budget for May 2022 to May 2023 alone.[209] In July, Russian state media said Prigozhin's Wagner Group had received the equivalent of $9.8B and his Concord catering business $9.6B from state sources.[210] Two weeks later, Putin once again stated that "legally Wagner Group does not exist".[211]

On 26 August 2023, following Prigozhin's death in a plane crash in Tver Oblast, Putin signed a decree ordering Wagner Group fighters to swear an "oath of allegiance" to the Russian state. This new oath applies to all PMCs, including those fighting in Ukraine.[212]

## Activities

[edit]

A map of Wagner Group activities:

Russia

Known to operate

Suspected or reported but unconfirmed presence

The Wagner Group is known to have operated in at least 11 countries; Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Mali, Libya, Venezuela, and Madagascar, spanning four continents, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. There are unconfirmed reports of activities in other countries.

### Ukraine

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group activities in Ukraine

See also: Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Wagner has played a significant role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where it has been reportedly deployed to assassinate Ukrainian leaders,[71] among other activities, and for which it has recruited prison inmates from Russia for frontline combat.[72][73] In December 2022, United States National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby claimed Wagner had 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts.[74] Others put the number of recruited prisoners at more than 20,000,[75] with the overall number of PMC forces present in Ukraine estimated at 20,000.[76] In 2023, Russia granted combat veteran status to Wagner contractors who took part in the invasion.[199]

#### Crimea annexation and War in Donbas

[edit]

Further information: Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

Wagner PMCs were first active in February 2014 in Crimea[20][21] during Russia's 2014 annexation of the peninsula where they operated in line with regular Russian army units, disarmed the Ukrainian Army and took control over facilities. The takeover of Crimea was almost bloodless.[213] The PMCs, along with the regular soldiers, were called "polite people" at the time[214] due to their well-mannered behavior. They kept to themselves, carried weapons that were not loaded, and mostly made no effort to interfere with civilian life.[215] Another name for them was "little green men" since they were masked, wearing unmarked green army uniforms and their origin was initially unknown.[216]

After the takeover of Crimea,[213] some 300 PMCs[217] went to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine where a conflict started between Ukrainian government and pro-Russian forces. With their help, the pro-Russian forces were able to destabilize government security forces in the region, immobilize operations of local government institutions, seize ammunition stores and take control of towns.[213] The PMCs conducted sneak attacks, reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and accompanied VIPs.[218] The Wagner Group PMCs reportedly took part in the June 2014 Il-76 airplane shoot-down at Luhansk International Airport[22] and the early 2015 Battle of Debaltseve, which involved one of the heaviest artillery bombardments in recent history, as well as reportedly hundreds of regular Russian soldiers.[18]

Following the end of major combat operations, the PMCs were reportedly given the assignment to kill dissident pro-Russian commanders that were acting in a rebellious manner, according to the Russian nationalist Sputnik and Pogrom internet media outlet and the SBU,[184][213] (other sources describe those who started to "turn up dead" and whose fate Wagner was suspected of being responsible for as "the most charismatic and ideologically driven leaders".[146] According to the SBU and the Russian media, Wagner also forced the reorganization and disarmament of Russian Cossack and other formations.[218][219] The PMCs acted mostly in the LPR.[213] The LPR accused Ukraine of committing the assassinations,[220][221] while unit members of the commanders believed it was the LPR authorities who were behind the killings.[221][222][223] Wagner left Ukraine and returned to Russia in autumn of 2015, with the start of the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.[21]

In late November 2017, a power struggle erupted in the separatist Luhansk People's Republic in Eastern Ukraine between LPR president Igor Plotnitsky and the LPR's interior minister, Igor Kornet, who Plotnitsky ordered to be dismissed. During the turmoil, armed men in unmarked uniforms took up positions in the center of Luhansk.[224][225] Some of the men belonged to Wagner, according to the Janes company.[226] In the end, Plotnitsky resigned and LPR security minister Leonid Pasechnik was named acting leader "until the next elections."[227] Plotnitsky reportedly fled to Russia[228] and the LPR's People's Council unanimously approved Plotnitsky's resignation.[229] As of October 2018, a few dozen PMCs remained in the Luhansk region, according to the SBU, to kill any people considered "undesirable by Russia".[230]

#### Full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022

[edit]

The Times reported that the Wagner Group flew in more than 400 contractors from the Central African Republic in mid- to late-January 2022 on a mission to assassinate Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his government, and thus to prepare the ground for Russia to take control for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022.[231] A US official stated that there were "some indications" that Wagner was being employed, but it was not clear where or how much.[232] By 3 March, according to The Times, Zelenskyy had survived three assassination attempts, two of which were allegedly orchestrated by the Wagner Group.[233]

In late March, it was expected that the number of Wagner PMCs in Ukraine would be tripled from around 300 at the beginning of the invasion to at least 1,000, and that they were to be focused on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.[234] In late April, a Russian military offensive to take the remainder of the Donbas region dubbed the Battle of Donbas was launched and Wagner PMCs took part in the Battle of Popasna,[52][53] the capture of Svitlodarsk,[235] the Battle of Sievierodonetsk,[54][55] and the Battle of Lysychansk.[56] During fighting near Popasna on 20 May, retired Major General Kanamat Botashev of the Russian Air Force was shot down while flying a Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft,[236] reportedly for the Wagner Group.[237]

Regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014 and 2022, with a red line marking the area of actual control by Russia on 30 September 2022

During the invasion, Wagner PMCs also trained Russian servicemen before they were sent to the frontline.[238]

From the beginning of July,[239] inmates recruited by Wagner, including Prighozin personally, in Russian prisons started participating in the invasion of Ukraine. The inmates were offered 100,000 or 200,000 rubles and amnesty for six months of "voluntary service", or 5 million for their relatives if they died.[240][72] On 5 January 2023, the first group of 24 prisoners[241] recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine finished their six-month contracts and were released with full amnesty for their past crimes.[242]

During the Battle of Bakhmut in late September, senior Wagner commander Aleksey Nagin was killed. Nagin previously fought with Wagner in Syria and Libya, and before that took part in the Second Chechen War and the Russo-Georgian War. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.[243][244] On 22 December, United States National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby claimed that around 1,000 Wagner fighters were killed in fighting at Bakhmut during the previous weeks, including some 900 recruited convicts.[245] Ukrainian soldiers and former convicts prisoners of war described the use of recruited convicts at Bakhmut as "bait", as poorly armed and briefly trained convicts were sent in human wave attacks to draw out and expose Ukrainian positions to attack by more experienced units or artillery.[246][247]

In 2023, journalist Joshua Yaffa reported that recruited prisoners make up approximately 80% of Wagner's manpower. They are identified with the letter "K" and deployed in waves, in intervals of 15–20 minutes, whereas professional mercenaries are given the letter "A" and "held back, entering the battle only once Ukrainian defenses had been softened."[146] An interviewed former Wagner mercenary who deserted reported a high mortality rate for the prisoners recruited to fight for Wagner in Ukraine: "Once we started using prisoners, it was like a conveyor belt. A group comes – that's it, they're dead." He stopped remembering their names or call signs. "A new person shows up, survives for five minutes, and he's killed. It was like that day after day."[146]

In mid-January 2023, the Wagner Group captured the salt mine town of Soledar after heavy fighting. During the battle, Wagner reportedly surrounded Ukrainian troops in the center of the town.[248][249] Hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian troops were killed in the Battle of Soledar.[250] Several days later, Wagner captured Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut, after which they continued advancing west of the settlement.[251][252][253][254]

A US estimate mid-February 2023, put the number of Wagner PMC casualties in the invasion at about 30,000, of which about 9,000 killed. The US estimated that half of those deaths had occurred in fighting for Bakhmut since the middle of December, with 90 percent of Wagner fighters which had been killed since December being convicts.[255] On 1 May 2023, the US updated it's estimate of Wagner casualties, with 10,000 fighters killed and 40,000 wounded since 1 December 2022 alone, again in fighting for Bakhmut.[256] Concurrently, the UK Ministry of Defence estimated that convicts recruited by Wagner had experienced a casualty rate of up to 50 percent.[257]

On 19 July 2023, Prigozhin announced the Wagner Group would no longer fight in Ukraine.[258]

On 27 September 2023, the Ukrainian military reported that around 500 Wagner Group fighters returned to fight in Donetsk Oblast as part of the 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive and as part of the group's redeployment in Ukraine for the first time since its failed rebellion against the Russian military establishment in June.[57] They are being led by Andrei Troshev, a retired colonel appointed by Russian president Vladimir Putin.[58]

### Syria

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group activities in Syria

Military situation in Syria in August 2015

The presence of the PMCs in Syria was first reported in late October 2015, almost a month after the start of the Russian military intervention in the country's civil war, when between three and nine PMCs were killed in a mortar attack in Latakia province.[25][259][260]

Wagner PMCs were involved in both Palmyra offensives in 2016 and 2017, as well as the Syrian Army's campaign in central Syria in the summer of 2017 and the Battle of Deir ez-Zor in late 2017.[24][27][261][29] They were in the role of frontline advisors, fire and movement coordinators,[184] forward air controllers who provided guidance to close air support,[262] and "shock troops" alongside the Syrian Army.[183]

In early February 2018, the PMCs took part in a battle at the town of Khasham, in eastern Syria, which resulted in heavy casualties among Syrian government forces and the Wagner Group as they were engaged by United States air and artillery strikes, due to which the incident was billed by media as "the first deadly clash between citizens of Russia and the United States since the Cold War".[263][264][146][265] Sources said Wagner group losses were anywhere between 10 and 200.

Subsequently, the Wagner Group took part[34] in the Syrian military's Rif Dimashq offensive against the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, east of Damascus.[266][267] The whole Eastern Ghouta region was captured by government forces on 14 April 2018,[268][269] effectively ending the near 7-year rebellion near Damascus.[270]

The PMCs also took part[271] in the Syrian Army's offensive in northwestern Syria that took place mid-2019.[272] As of late December 2021, Wagner PMCs were still taking part in military operations against ISIL cells in the Syrian desert.[273]

On 15 March 2023, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 266 Russian PMCs were killed in Syria during the civil war.[274]

### Africa

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group activities in Africa

The Wagner Group has been active in Africa since 2017. It has provided military support, security and protection to several African governments. In return, Russian and Wagner-linked companies have been given privileged access to those countries' natural resources, such as rights to gold and diamond mines, while the Russian military has been given access to strategic locations such as airbases and ports.[77][275] This has been described as a kind of state capture, whereby Russia gains influence over those states and they become dependent on it.[276]

Wagner Group PMCs arrived in Madagascar to provide security for then-president Hery Rajaonarimampianina in the 2018 Malagasy presidential election. In early August 2019, the Wagner Group received a contract with the government of Mozambique to provide technical and tactical assistance to the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces (FADM). At least 200 PMCs and military equipment arrived in Mozambique to fight an Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province which started on 5 October 2017.

In a September 2023, New York Times opinion piece, American national security expert, Sean McFate, presented Yevgeny Prigozhin's operation of the Wagner Group in Africa as a template for mercenary money-making or "a blueprint for wannabe mercenary overlords to follow". The model is to find "conflict markets", a state with instability ("political rivalries, post-colonial grievances and short on rule of law") and natural resources.[277] Once Prigozhin's had

> spotted an opening, he would pitch it to Mr. Putin, and, if amenable, Mr. Putin would unofficially sanction Wagner's operations, sometimes providing them with military equipment and intelligence. ... With Mr. Putin's blessing in place, Mr. Prigozhin would approach the potential client, typically a head of state or group of putschists, and propose a deal. He would coup-proof them using Wagner muscle and create an elite military unit to serve them. He would use another arm of his business empire, a troll factory called the Internet Research Agency, to smear domestic opposition, popularize the client and further exploit grievances against the West. In exchange, he very likely demanded two things. First, the regime had to abandon the West and support Russia's interests. Second, it had to grant Russia access to natural resources such as oil, natural gas and gold. [277]

In November 2023, it was announced that an "Africa Corps" was being formed as "part of a special structure of the Ministry of Defence"; a US government source said that the Africa Corps was a rival to Wagner that aimed to absorb its personnel and activities in Africa.[278] By the following year, the Wagner Group in Africa was merged into the 'Africa Corps'.[279] According to the French Le Monde newspaper, its name referenced the Nazi German Afrika Korps of World War II.[278]

#### Sudan

[edit]

The earliest reports of PMC Wagner involvement in Sudan came in 2017.[280] The PMCs were sent to Sudan to support it militarily against South Sudan and protect gold, uranium and diamond mines.[281]

Following Omar al-Bashir's overthrow in a coup d'état on 11 April 2019, Russia continued to support the Transitional Military Council (TMC) that was established to govern Sudan, as the TMC agreed to uphold Russia's contracts in Sudan's defense, mining and energy sectors. This included the PMCs' training of Sudanese military officers.[282] The Wagner Group's operations became more elusive following al-Bashir's overthrow. They continued to mostly work with Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF).[283] Wagner was said to be linked to the Deputy Chairman of the TMC and commander of the RSF, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.[284]

In April 2020, the Wagner-connected company "Meroe Gold" was reported to be planning to ship personal protective equipment, medicine, and other equipment to Sudan amid the coronavirus pandemic.[285] Three months later, the United States sanctioned the "M Invest" company, as well as its Sudan subsidiary "Meroe Gold" and two individuals key to Wagner operations in Sudan, for the suppression and discrediting of protesters.[286]

Following the 2021 Sudanese coup d'état, Russian support for the military administration set up in Sudan became more open and Russian-Sudanese ties, along with Wagner's activities, continued to expand even after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, leading to condemnation by the United States, United Kingdom and Norway.[283] The Wagner Group obtained lucrative mining concessions. 16 kilometres (10 mi) from the town of Abidiya, in Sudan's northeastern gold-rich area, a Russian-operated gold mine was set up that was thought to be an outpost of the Wagner Group. Further to the east, Wagner supported Russia's attempts to build a naval base on the Red Sea. It used western Sudan's Darfur region as a staging point for its operations in other neighbouring countries, the Central African Republic, Libya and parts of Chad. Geologists of the Wagner-linked "Meroe Gold" company also visited Darfur to assess its uranium potential.[287]

#### Central African Republic

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group activities in the Central African Republic

Wagner Group mercenaries in Koundjili, Central African Republic, May 2019

In 2018, the Wagner Group deployed its personnel to the CAR, to protect lucrative mines, support the CAR government, and provide close protection for the president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra.[288]

By May 2018, it was reported that the number of Wagner PMCs in the CAR was 1,400, while another Russian PMC called Patriot was in charge of protecting VIPs.[289]

By 2021, the situation in the CAR had deteriorated further, with rebels attacking and capturing Bambari.[290] In response, Russia sent an additional 300 military instructors to the country to train government forces and provide support.[290] The presence of Wagner and other Russian PMCs in the CAR has raised concerns about Russia's growing influence in Africa and its willingness to flout international law.

In September 2022, The Daily Beast interviewed survivors and witnesses of a massacre committed by the Wagner Group in the village of Bèzèrè in December 2021, which involved torture, killing and disembowelment of a number of women, including pregnant ones.[291]

According to The New York Times, a report "prepared for members of the U.N. Security Council" found Wagner forces complicit in numerous cases in the Central African Republic of "excessive force, indiscriminate killings, occupation of schools and looting on a large scale, including of humanitarian organizations."[292][146]

Military situation in the Central African Republic in July 2023

In mid-January 2023, the Wagner Group sustained relatively heavy casualties as a new government military offensive was launched near the CAR border with Cameroon and Chad. Fighting also erupted near the border with Sudan. The rebels claimed between seven and 17 Wagner PMCs were among the dozens of casualties. A CAR military source also confirmed seven Wagner contractors were killed in one ambush.[293]

According to a 2022 joint investigation and report from European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), the French organization All Eyes on Wagner, and the UK-based Dossier Center, Wagner Group has been controlling Diamville diamond trading company in Central African Republic since 2019.[294] According to The New Yorker, the group also holds sway over "much of the timber industry and operates a network of gold and diamond mines", and according to "a senior US intelligence official", the CAR is now a "proxy state" of the Wagner Group. At the same time, a "French military official" complained to journalist Joshua Yaffa, "They don't really bring stability, or even fight rebel groups all that successfully. What they do is protect the government in power and their own economic interests."[146] Bohumil Doboš of the Institute of Political Studies in Prague described Wagner's operation in the CAR as a neo-imperialist and neo-colonial kind of state capture, whereby Russia gains sway by helping to keep the ruling government in power and making them reliant on its protection, while generating economic and political benefits for Russia, without benefitting the local population.[295]

#### Libya

[edit]

Main article: Wagner Group activities in Libya

Military situation in Libya in November 2018

The group's presence in Libya was first reported in October 2018, when Russian military bases had been set up in Benghazi and Tobruk in support of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who leads the Libyan National Army (LNA). The group was said to be providing training and support to Haftar's forces, and Russian missiles and SAM systems were also thought to be set up in Libya.[citation needed] By early March 2019, around 300 Wagner PMCs were in Benghazi supporting Haftar, according to a British government source.[296] The LNA made large advances in the country's south, capturing a number of towns in quick succession, including the city of Sabha and the El Sharara oil field, Libya's largest oil field.[297] Following the southern campaign, the LNA launched an offensive against the Government of National Accord (GNA)-held capital of Tripoli, but the offensive stalled within two weeks on the outskirts of the city due to stiff resistance.[298]

By mid-November, the number of Wagner PMCs in Libya had risen to 1,400, according to several Western officials.[299] The US Congress was preparing bipartisan sanctions against the PMCs in Libya, and a US military drone was shot down over Tripoli, with the US claiming it was shot down by Russian air defenses operated by Russian PMCs or the LNA. An estimated 25 Wagner military personnel were killed in a drone strike in September 2020, although the Russian government denied any involvement. The GNA ultimately recaptured Tripoli in June 2020, leading to a ceasefire agreement in October 2020.[300]

#### Mali

[edit]

Further information: Moura Massacre and Islamist insurgency in the Sahel

A demonstration in support of the Malian Armed Forces in Bamako after the 2021 Malian coup d'état

In September 2021, reports surfaced that an agreement was close to being finalized that would allow the Wagner Group to operate in Mali. France, which previously ruled Mali as a colony, was making a diplomatic push to prevent the agreement being enacted. Since late May 2021, Mali has been ruled by a military junta that came into power following a coup d'état.[301] The United Kingdom, European Union and Ivory Coast also warned Mali not to engage in an agreement with the Wagner Group.[302][303][304] Still, on 30 September, Mali received a shipment of four Mil Mi-17 helicopters, as well as arms and ammunition, as part of a contract agreed in December 2020.[305][306]

The following months, Russian military advisors arrived in the country and were active in several parts of Mali.[307][50]

On 5 April 2022, Human Rights Watch published a report accusing Malian soldiers and Russian PMCs of executing around 300 civilians between 27 and 31 March, during a military operation in Moura, in the Mopti region, known as a hotspot of Islamic militants. According to the Malian military, more than 200 militants were killed in the operation, which reportedly involved more than 100 Russians.[51][308]

On 28 July 2024, it was reported that "dozens" of Wagner mercenaries had been killed or injured by Tuareg rebels in fighting at the commune of Tinzaouaten near the Algerian border in the north of Mali as they were moving in a convoy with Malian government soldiers.[309] The Wagner Group confirmed that it suffered casualties during the battle, but did not give a death toll.[310] On 21 November, at least seven Wagner soldiers were killed by al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM in an ambush on a convoy in the Mopti region.[311][312]

### Venezuela

[edit]

In late January 2019, Wagner PMCs were reported by Reuters to have arrived in Venezuela during the unfolding presidential crisis. They were sent to provide security for President Nicolás Maduro, who was facing opposition protests as part of the socioeconomic and political crisis that had been gripping Venezuela since 2010. The leader of a local chapter of a paramilitary group of Cossacks with ties to the PMCs reported that about 400 contractors may have been in Venezuela at that point. It was said that the PMCs flew in two chartered aircraft to Havana, Cuba, from where they transferred onto regular commercial flights to Venezuela.[46][313]

An anonymous Russian source close to the Wagner Group stated that another group of PMCs had already arrived in advance of the May 2018 presidential election.[46][313] Before the 2019 flare-up of protests, the PMCs were in Venezuela to mostly provide security for Russian business interests like the Russian energy company Rosneft. They assisted in the training of the Venezuelan National Militia and the pro-Maduro Colectivos paramilitaries in 2018.[47] Russian ambassador to Venezuela, Vladimir Zayemsky denied the report of the existence of Wagner in Venezuela.[314]

### Belarus

[edit]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2023)

|

See also: Wagnergate

Wagner Group members in Belarus, July 2023

In July 2020, ahead of the country's presidential election, Belarusian law enforcement agencies arrested 33 Wagner contractors. The arrests took place after the security agencies received information about over 200 PMCs arriving in the country "to destabilize the situation during the election campaign", according to the state-owned Belarusian Telegraph Agency (BelTA).[315] The Belarusian Security Council accused those arrested of preparing "a terrorist attack".[316] Radio Liberty reported the contractors were possibly on their way to Sudan, citing video footage that showed Sudanese currency and a telephone card depicting Kassala's Khatmiya Mosque among the belongings of those who had been arrested.[315] Others also believed the contractors were simply using Belarus as a staging post on their way to or from their latest assignment,[316] possibly in Africa, with BBC News pointing out the footage of the Sudanese currency and a Sudanese phone card as well.[317]

Russia confirmed the men were employed by a private security firm, but stated they had stayed in Belarus after missing their connecting flight to Turkey[318] and called for their swift release.[319] The head of the Belarusian investigative group asserted the contractors had no plans to fly further to Turkey and that they were giving "contradictory accounts". The PMCs stated they were on their way to Venezuela, Turkey, Cuba and Syria. Belarusian authorities also said they believed the husband of opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya may have ties to the detained men and launched a criminal case against him.[318] The detained contractors were returned to Russia two weeks later.[320]

During the contractors' detention, Russian media reported that the Security Service of Ukraine had lured the PMCs to Belarus under the pretext of a contract for the protection of Rosneft facilities in Venezuela. The operation's plan was to force an emergency landing of the contractor's plane from Minsk as it flew through Ukrainian airspace and, once grounded, the PMCs would have been arrested.[321] Later, Russian president Putin also stated that the detained men were victims of a joint Ukrainian-United States intelligence operation.[322][323] Although the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, denied involvement in the detentions,[324] subsequently, a number of Ukrainian journalists, members of parliament, and politicians confirmed the operation.[321]

The operation was supposedly planned for a year as Ukraine identified PMCs who fought in eastern Ukraine and were involved in the July 2014 shoot down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The operation failed after being postponed by the Office of the President of Ukraine, which was reportedly informed of it only in its final stage. Ukrainian reporter Yuri Butusov accused Andriy Yermak of "betrayal" after he reportedly deliberately released information on the operation to Russia.[321] Butusov further reported that the Turkish intelligence agency MİT was also involved in the operation.[325] The failure of the operation led to firings and criminal proceedings among Ukraine's Security Service personnel, according to a Ukrainian intelligence representative using the pseudonym "Bogdan".[326] Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko also claimed in December 2020 that he sanctioned the operation at the end of 2018.[327]

## Possible activities

[edit]

### Nagorno-Karabakh

[edit]

Several days after Russian media reported that Russian PMCs were ready to fight against Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh,[328] a source within the Wagner Group, as well as Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, reported Wagner contractors were sent to support armed forces of the partially recognized Republic of Artsakh against Azerbaijan during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War as ATGM operators.[329][330] However, Bellingcat reported that the Wagner Group was not present in Nagorno-Karabakh, pointing to the Reverse Side of the Medal (RSOTM) public channel, used by Russian PMCs, including Wagner. RSOTM posted two images and a song alluding to the possibility of Wagner PMCs arriving in Nagorno-Karabakh, but Bellingcat determined the images were unrelated.[331]

Following the end of the war, retired military captain Viktor Zlobov stated Wagner PMCs took a significant role in managing to preserve the territory that remained under Armenian control during the conflict and were the ones mostly responsible for the Armenians managing to keep control of the town of Shusha for as long as they did before it was ultimately captured by Azerbaijan during the major battle that took place. Turkey reported that 380 "blondes with blue eyes" took part in the conflict on the side of Artsakh, while some Russian publications put the number of Wagner PMCs who arrived in the region in early November at 500. 300 of these were said to have taken part in the Battle of Shusha[332] and a photo of a Wagner PMC, apparently taken in front a church in Shusha during the war, appeared on the internet the following month.[333]

The Russian news outlet OSN reported the arrival of the PMCs was also one of the factors that led to Azerbaijan's halt of their offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh.[334]

### Burkina Faso

[edit]

Following more than six years of a Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso, a coup d'état took place on 23 January 2022, with the military deposing president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré[335] and declaring that the parliament, government and constitution had been dissolved.[336] The coup d'état was led by lieutenant colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba[337] and came in response to the government's failure to suppress the Islamist insurgency, which has left 2,000 people dead and between 1.4 and 1.5 million displaced. Anger was also directed towards France, which was providing military support to the government.[338][339][340][341]

One day after the coup, Alexander Ivanov, the official representative of Russian military trainers in the CAR, offered training to the Burkinese military.[342] Subsequently, it was revealed that shortly before the military takeover lieutenant colonel Damiba attempted to persuade president Kaboré to engage the Wagner Group against the Islamist insurgents.[343] In addition, less than two weeks before the takeover, the government announced it had thwarted a coup plot, after which it was speculated that the Wagner Group might try and establish itself in Burkina Faso.[344] The coup found significant support in the country[339] and was followed by protests against France and in support of the takeover, with the protesters calling for Russia to intervene.[338] The United States Department of Defense stated it was aware of allegations that the Wagner Group might have been "a force behind the military takeover in Burkina Faso" but could not confirm if they were true.[342]

On 30 September 2022, a new coup d'état took place that saw colonel Damiba being deposed by captain Ibrahim Traoré due to Damiba's inability to contain the jihadist insurgency. According to Traoré, he and other officers had tried to get Damiba to "refocus" on the rebellion, but eventually opted to overthrow him as "his ambitions were diverting away from what we set out to do".[345] Some suspected Traoré of having a connection with Wagner.[346] As Traoré entered Ouagadougou, the nation's capital, supporters cheered, some waving Russian flags.[347] Senior U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland traveled to Burkina Faso in the wake of Traoré's seizure of power in order to "strongly urge" him not to partner with Wagner.[348]

Still, the Government of Ghana publicly alleged that Traoré began collaborating with the Wagner Group following the coup, enlisting the mercenaries against the jihadist rebels.[349] According to Ghana's president, the ruling junta allocated a mine to the Wagner Group as a form of payment for its deployment,[350] which was denied by Burkina Faso's mines minister.[351] In late January 2023, the ruling junta demanded France withdraw its troops, numbering between 200 and 400 special forces members, from Burkina Faso, after battling the jihadists for years. France agreed[352][353] and completed its withdrawal by 19 February 2023.[354]

### Other

[edit]

A Russian news video claiming to show Serbian "volunteers" being trained by the Wagner Group to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine prompted outrage in Serbia. Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vučić, reacted angrily on national TV, asking why the Wagner Group would call on anyone from Serbia when it is against the country's regulations. It is illegal for Serbians to take part in conflicts abroad.[355]

Amid reports in March 2023, claiming Russia was plotting the toppling of the government of Moldova, and a subsequent anti-government demonstration, the Moldovan Border Police reported it had detained and deported an alleged member of the Wagner Group at Chisinau Airport.[356][357]

The U.S. government shared intelligence with the Chadian government that Wagner is working with rebels in the country to destabilise the government, and is possibly plotting to assassinate the country's president[358] as well as other top government officials. Wagner was allegedly also seeking to forge ties with elements of the Chadian ruling class. An attempt to topple a government represented a watershed for Wagner's influence building strategy, a U.S. official told The New York Times. The U.S. approach of intelligence sharing to counter Russian threats to sovereign states and subsequent leaks of the intelligence findings reflects a strategy pioneered amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[348]

According to information from leaked US intelligence findings, Wagner sought to expand its operations into Haiti, reaching out to the embattled Haitian government with a proposal to combat gangs on behalf of the government.[359]

In June 2023, an email from the Wagner Group suggested that the group had plans involving the Chatham Islands east of the New Zealand mainland, following a television interview with Prigozhin when a map on the wall behind him had a coloured pin into the position of the islands.[360]

In August 2023, two Russian citizens were detained in Poland after they were spotted placing "Wagner" stickers and other recruitment materials in public places. According to law enforcement they had over 3,000 "Wagner" propaganda items and documented placing over 300 of them in various places in Poland, for which they received 500,000 RUB from Russia.[361]

In September 2024, it was claimed that PMCs from the Wagner Group (now called “Africa Corps”) had entered in Equatorial Guinea at the request of Teodoro Obiang.[362] According to the opposition, the objective of the contractors was to help consolidate a hypothetical succession of Obiang's power to his son "Teodorín".[363]

## Casualties

[edit]

See also: Russian Armed Forces casualties in Syria

Conflict | Period | Wagner casualties | Notes

|
|
|

Killed | Wounded
War in Donbas | Jun 2014 – Oct 2015  |

30–80[218]

|  | The Ukrainian SBU claimed 36 PMCs were killed[364] during the fighting at Luhansk International Airport (15) and the Battle of Debaltseve (21).[22]
Four of those who died in the battle for the airport were killed at the nearby village of Khryashchevatoe.[365]
Syrian civil war | Sep 2015 – Dec 2024  |

346[366]

900+ (Sep 2015 – Dec 2017)[367]

| CIT reported a conservative estimate of at least 101 being killed between October 2015 and mid-December 2017.[95]
By the end of December 2017, the founder of CIT stated the death toll was at least 100–200,[368] while another CIT blogger said at least 150 were killed and more than 900 were wounded.[367]
Fontanka reported a conservative estimate of at least 73 dead by mid-December 2017,[95] 40–60 of which died during the first several months of 2017.[369]
A former PMC officer stated no fewer than 100 died by the end of August 2016.[131]
BBC News Russian confirmed by names the deaths of 346 PMCs by mid-December 2024, following the Fall of the Assad regime.[366]
In addition, three PMCs belonging to the Russian private military company Shield also died mid-June 2019. Two of the three were former Wagner members.[370]
Syrian civil war – Battle of Khasham | 7 Feb 2018  |

80[366]

100–200[371][372]

| The Ukrainian SBU claimed 80 were killed and 100 wounded,[372] naming 64 of the dead.[373]
A source with ties to Wagner and a Russian military doctor claimed 80–100 were killed and 200 wounded.[371]
A Russian journalist believed between 20 and 25 died,[374] while similarly CIT estimated a total of between 20 and 30 had died.[375]
The Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported 13 dead, while the Baltic separate Cossack District ataman stated no more than 15–20 died.[376]
Wagner commanders put the death toll at 14 or 15 at the most.[377][378][19]
BBC News Russian confirmed by names the deaths of 80 PMCs.[366]
Central African Republic Civil War | Mar 2018–present  |

33[379]

|  |
Sudanese Revolution | Dec 2018 – Jan 2019  |

2[380]

|  |
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado | Sep 2019 – Mar 2020  |

11[381][382]

|  |
Second Libyan Civil War | Sep 2019 – Oct 2020  |

21–48[383]

|  | Russian blogger Mikhail Polynkov claimed no less than 100 PMCs had been killed by early April 2020. However, this was not independently confirmed.[384]
Mali War | Dec 2021–present  |

51–81[385][386]

|  | The death of one more Russian "mercenary" and two "foreign soldiers", said to be Russian, were also reported in two incidents in January and March 2022.[50][387]
Russian invasion of Ukraine | 24 Feb 2022–present  |

11,065 (confirmed)

20,000+ (per Prigozhin, in Bakhmut)

20,000+ (per Prigozhin, in Bakhmut)

| The Mediazona outlet and BBC News Russian confirmed by names the deaths of 11,065 PMCs, including 8,268 recruited convicts.[388][389] This number possibly includes members of the PMC Redut, which counts among its members former Wagner commanders,[390] as well as convicts.[391]
On 23 May 2024, Prigozhin claimed that 20,000 Wagner fighters were killed in Bakhmut, with as many wounded. However, Russian ultranationalist Igor Girkin claimed that the true figure, based on Prigozhin's claimed strength figures, was over twice as high, estimating a total number of more than 40,000 killed in action.[392][393]

Families of killed PMCs are prohibited from talking to the media under a non-disclosure that is a prerequisite for them to get compensation from the company. The standard compensation for the family of a killed Wagner employee is up to 5 million rubles (about 80,000 dollars), according to a Wagner official.[131] In contrast, the girlfriend of a killed fighter stated the families are paid between 22,500 and 52,000 dollars depending on the killed PMC's rank and mission.[394] In mid-2018, Russian military veterans urged the Russian government to acknowledge sending private military contractors to fight in Syria, in an attempt to secure financial and medical benefits for the PMCs and their families.[395]

The Sogaz International Medical Centre in Saint Petersburg, a clinic owned by the large insurance company AO Sogaz, has treated PMCs who had been injured in combat overseas since 2016. The company's senior officials and owners are either relatives of Russian president Putin or others linked to him. The clinic's general director, Vladislav Baranov, also has a business relationship with Maria Vorontsova, Putin's eldest daughter.[396]

On 12 April 2018, investigative Russian journalist Maksim Borodin was found badly injured at the foot of his building, after falling from his fifth-floor balcony in Yekaterinburg.[397] He was hospitalized in a coma and died of his injuries three days later on 15 April.[96] In the weeks before his death, Borodin gained national attention[398] when he wrote about the deaths of Wagner PMCs in the battle with US-backed forces in eastern Syria in early February, that also involved US air-strikes.[397]

## Sanctions

[edit]

Prigozhin was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury in December 2016 for Russia's involvement in the war in Ukraine,[399][400] and by the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom in October 2020 for links to Wagner activities in Libya.[401]

The US Department of the Treasury also imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group and Utkin personally in June 2017.[402] The designation of the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control listed the company and Dmitriy Utkin under the "Designations of Ukrainian Separatists (E.O. 13660)" heading and referred to him as "the founder and leader of PMC Wagner".[403] Further sanctions were implemented against the Wagner Group in September 2018,[404][405][406] and July 2020.[286] In December 2021, the EU imposed sanctions against the Wagner Group and eight individuals and three entities connected with it, for committing "serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or in destabilising activities in some of the countries they operate in, including Libya, Syria, Ukraine (Donbas) and the Central African Republic."[407][408][409]

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and New Zealand had sanctioned the group.[410][411][412][413][414] In addition, in late January 2023, the US announced it would designate Wagner as a "significant transnational criminal organization", enabling further tougher sanctions to be implemented against the group.[415][416][417]

In early 2023, the US was reported to be working with Egypt and the UAE to put pressure on the military leaders of Sudan and Libya to end their relationship with the Wagner Group and expel them from the countries. The Wagner Group had supported the UAE's and Saudi Arabia's allies in Sudan and Libya. In addition, the Wagner PMCs in Libya were mainly funded by the UAE.[418]

On 4 July 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE recognized Wagner as a terrorist organization and Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

On 24 July, the US also sanctioned three Malian officials for facilitating the Wagner Group's operations in their country.[419]

## Plane crash

[edit]

Main article: 2023 Wagner Group plane crash

Makeshift memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin in Moscow

On 23 August 2023, Wagner leaders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin died in a plane crash in Tver Oblast, Russia. While the cause of the crash is unknown, The Wall Street Journal cited sources within the US government as saying that the crash was likely caused by a bomb onboard or "some other form of sabotage".[420] Early reports suggested a missile strike, but the Journal cited three veteran aviation experts who said that the visual evidence indicates a catastrophic structural failure not attributable to a missile.[421] Meduza discounted the possibility of a surface-to-air missile (SAM) strike, saying that the aircraft was flying too high to be hit by a short-range man-portable air-defense system, while a more potent medium-range SAM such as those operated by Russian forces in the area would cause much more severe and readily identifiable damage.[422] The United States Department of Defense press secretary Patrick Ryder said that the Pentagon had no indication that the plane had been shot down by a SAM, calling it false information.[423][424] Experts consulted by The New York Times said that the size of the debris field – with the fuselage being found some 3 km (2 mi) from the empennage – suggests a catastrophic structural failure that could not be caused by a simple mechanical problem.[425]

## Far-right elements

[edit]

Various elements of the Wagner Group have been linked to extremism, including white supremacy and neo-Nazism.[426][427][428][429] Some founding members of Wagner belong to the far-right ultranationalist Russian Imperial Movement.[430] Wagner's first commander, Dmitry Utkin,[146] was reportedly a neo-Nazi and had several Nazi tattoos,[431][432][427][429] greeted subordinates by saying "Heil!", wore a Wehrmacht field cap around the unit's training grounds, and occasionally signed his name with the two lightning bolt insignia of the Nazi SS.[146]

In 2021, the Foreign Policy report noted the origin of the name "Wagner" to be unknown.[106] Others say the group's name comes from Utkin's own call sign "Wagner", reportedly after the German composer Richard Wagner, which Utkin is said to have chosen due to his passion for the Third Reich (Wagner being Adolf Hitler's favorite composer).[433][427] Members of Wagner Group said Utkin was a Rodnover, a follower of Slavic native faith.[434] A Wagner sub-group, "Rusich", was founded by self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Alexey Milchakov and is open about its far-right ideology.[150][435][436][154] Wagner members have also left neo-Nazi graffiti on the battlefield,[428][382] such as swastikas and the SS emblem.[430][429]

However, Erica Gaston, a senior policy adviser at the UN University Centre for Policy Research, noted that the Wagner Group is not driven by ideology, but is rather a network of mercenaries "linked to the Russian security state".[437][438]

## Awards and honors

[edit]

Wagner PMCs have received state awards[24] in the form of military decorations[114] and certificates signed by Russian president Putin.[439] Wagner commanders Andrey Bogatov and Andrei Troshev were awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation honor for assisting in the first capture of Palmyra in March 2016. Bogatov was seriously injured during the battle. Meanwhile, Alexander Kuznetsov and Dmitry Utkin had reportedly won the Order of Courage four times.[109] Family members of killed PMCs also received medals from Wagner itself, with the mother of one killed fighter being given two medals, one for "heroism and valour" and the other for "blood and bravery".[440] A medal for conducting operations in Syria was also issued by Wagner to its PMCs.[441]

In mid-December 2017, a powerlifting tournament was held in Ulan-Ude, capital city of the Russian Republic of Buryatia, which was dedicated to the memory of Vyacheslav Leonov, a Wagner PMC who was killed during the campaign in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province.[442][443] The same month, Russia's president signed a decree establishing International Volunteer Day in Russia, as per the UN resolution from 1985, which will be celebrated annually every 5 December. The Russian Poliksal news site associated the Russian celebration of Volunteer Day with honoring Wagner PMCs.[444]

In late January 2018, an image emerged of a monument in Syria, dedicated to "Russian volunteers".[445] The inscription on the monument in Arabic read: "To Russian volunteers, who died heroically in the liberation of Syrian oil fields from ISIL".[446][447] The monument was located at the Haiyan plant, about 50 kilometers from Palmyra,[448] where Wagner PMCs were deployed.[449] An identical monument was also erected in Luhansk in February 2018.[450] In late August 2018, a chapel was built near Goryachy Klyuch, Krasnodar Krai, in Russia in memory of Wagner PMCs killed in fighting against ISIL in Syria. For each of those killed a candle is lit in the chapel.[451] Towards the end of November 2018, it was revealed that a third monument, also identical to the two in Syria and Luhansk, was erected in front of the chapel, which is a few dozen kilometers from the PMC's training facility at Molkin.[452][unreliable source]

The leadership of the Wagner Group and its military instructors were reportedly invited to attend the military parade on 9 May 2018, dedicated to Victory Day.[137]

On 14 May 2021, a Russian movie inspired by the Russian military instructors in the Central African Republic premiered at the national stadium in Bangui.[453] Titled The Tourist, it depicts a group of Russian military advisors sent to the CAR on the eve of presidential elections and, following a violent rebellion, they defend locals against the rebels. The movie was reportedly financed by Prigozhin to improve the Wagner Group's reputation and included some Wagner PMCs as extras.[454] Six months later, a monument to the Russian military was erected in Bangui.[455] In late January 2022, a second movie about the Russian PMCs had its premiere. The film, titled Granit, showed the true story of the contractors' mission to the Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique in 2019, against Islamist militants.[456]

## Post-Yevgeny Prigozhin's death

[edit]

On 11 September 2023, Russian media reported that the National Guard, Rosgvardia, had begun recruiting former convicts who served in Ukraine as members of the Wagner Group.[457]

On 27 September 2023, the Ukrainian military reported that around 500 Wagner Group fighters returned to fight in Donetsk Oblast as part of the group's redeployment in Ukraine for the first time since its failed rebellion against the Russian military establishment in June.[458]

On 29 September 2023, President Putin appointed former Wagner Group commander and retired colonel Andrei Troshev (nom de guerre Sedoi) to oversee volunteer fighter units in Ukraine.[459]

In October 2023, pro-Wagner groups reported that Pavel Prigozhin, son of former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, had been appointed as the new leader of the Wagner Group.[5]

On 6 November 2023, the Kyiv Post released drone footage of what it claimed was Ukrainian special forces attacking Wagner PMC soldiers in Sudan with an explosive projectile.[460]

### Nationalization of Wagner Group

[edit]

On 13 November 2023, it was reported that four former inmates who fought for the Wagner Group in eastern Ukraine, have been receiving calls and text messages offering them military contracts. Three of the veterans reported that specifically Rosgvardia was trying to recruit them. A text message said: "Wagner is officially becoming a unit of Rosgvardia...The entire structure, methods of work and commanders remain the same." Other reports indicate that former Wagner fighters have joined Chechen Akhmat units, whilst still wearing Wagner patches.[461]

## Notable members

[edit]

* Vladimir Andanov was wanted for a killing in Libya.[462] Andanov was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian sniper in Ukraine.[463]
* Alexey Milchakov
* Andrey Medvedev

## See also

[edit]

* Fakel (company)
* Redut
* List of military units named after people

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Both the flag and emblem still see unofficial use.[112]

## Citations

[edit]

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373. ^ SBU publishes list of 206 non-TOE employees of the Directorate of General Staff of Russian Army, members of Wagner PMC, plus personal data on eight more killed mercs
SBU releases personal details of 11 Russian Wagner PMC mercenaries who fought in Donbas separatists' ranks. PHOTOS
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379. ^ 3 killed (12 Feb 2021),[1] 4 killed (28 July 2021),[2] 2 killed (5 Aug 2021),[3] 1 killed (23 Aug 2021),[4] 3 killed (2 Oct 2021),[5] 5 killed (11 Oct 2021),[6] 1 killed (12 Oct 2021),[7] 2 killed (14 Nov 2021),[8] 4 killed (18 Nov 2021),[9] 2 killed (30 Nov 2021),[10] 2 killed (16 Jan 2022),[11] 2 killed (5 March 2022),[12] 2 killed (27 May 2022),[13] total of 33 reported killed
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403. ^ "Treasury Designates Individuals and Entities Involved in the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine" U.S. Department of the Treasury, 20 June 2017.
404. ^ "CAATSA Section 231: "Addition of 33 Entities and Individuals to the List of Specified Persons and Imposition of Sanctions on the Equipment Development Department"".
405. ^ "U.S. Adds Russians Indicted by Mueller to a Sanctions List". Bloomberg. 20 September 2018 - via www.bloomberg.com.
406. ^ Borger, Julian (20 September 2018). "US hits China with sanctions for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles". The Guardian.
407. ^ "EU imposes restrictive measures against the Wagner Group". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 14 December 2021.
408. ^ "EU imposes sanctions on Russia mercenary Wagner Group". Middle East Monitor. 14 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
409. ^ "EU slaps sanctions on Russian mercenary group Wagner". Politico. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
410. ^ Staff (25 March 2022). "UK sanctions notorious Russian Wagner mercenary group". The New Arab.
411. ^ "A look at Canada's sanctions and other actions against Russia". CityNews Halifax. 25 February 2022.
412. ^ Further Russia and Belarus Sanctions
413. ^ "Japan freezes assets of more Russian officials, oligarchs". www.aljazeera.com.
414. ^ "Russia Sanctions Regulations 2022". Retrieved 11 February 2023.
415. ^ "Treasury to designate Wagner transnational criminal group". AP NEWS. 20 January 2023.
416. ^ "US Labels Russia's Wagner Group a Criminal Organization in New Bid to Blunt Its Power". Bloomberg. 20 January 2023 - via www.bloomberg.com.
417. ^ "US to designate Russia's Wagner Group as 'transnational criminal organization' | US foreign policy | The Guardian". theguardian.com. 20 January 2023. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2023. "The US will designate the Russian mercenary group Wagner as a 'significant transnational criminal organization', imposing further sanctions on the military contractor which has been aiding Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine."
418. ^ "US seeks to expel Russian mercenaries from Sudan, Libya". Associated Press. 3 February 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
419. ^ "US sanctions Mali's defence minister, officials over Wagner ties". Al Jazeera.
420. ^ "WSJ: US officials do not believe air defense shot down Prigozhin plane". The Kyiv Independent. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
421. ^ "Prigozhin Plane Crash Analysis: Early Evidence Suggests Bomb, Sabotage". www.wsj.com.
422. ^ "A bomb or a missile? Meduza analyzes the early evidence about what downed Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane and apparently killed Russia's most notorious mercenary leader". Meduza. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
423. ^ null (24 August 2023). "Russia-Ukraine War: Update from Eric Schmitt". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
424. ^ "Pentagon: Prigozhin likely killed but no evidence of surface-to-air missile". NBC News. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
425. ^ Mellen, Riley; Xiao, Muyi; Stein, Robin (24 August 2023). "Flight data and video analysis point to a catastrophic midair event in the Russian plane crash". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
426. ^ Ling, Justin (15 March 2022). "Moscow Turns U.S. Volunteers Into New Bogeyman in Ukraine". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
427. ^ a b c "What is the Wagner Group, Russia's mercenary organisation?". The Economist. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
428. ^ a b Soufan, Ali; Sales, Nathan (1 June 2022). "One of the worst ways Putin is gaslighting the world on Ukraine". NBC News. NBC.
429. ^ a b c "Signs of Neo-Nazi Ideology Amongst Russian Mercenaries". Res Publica. 26 March 2021.
430. ^ a b Castner, Brian (1 June 2022). "The White Power Mercenaries Fighting For the Lost Cause Around the World". Time.
431. ^ "The secretive Russian mercenaries 'ordered to kill' Ukraine's president". nationalworld.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
432. ^ "What is Wagner Group – shadowy Russian mercenaries 'in Kyiv to assassinate Volodymyr Zelensky'". ThePrint. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
433. ^ Parfitt, Tom (31 March 2016). "Russian-led private army sent to Syria". The Times. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
434. ^ Cornelio, J.; Gauthier, F.; Martikainen, T.; Woodhead, L. (2020). Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. Routledge International Handbooks. Taylor & Francis. p. 403\. ISBN 978-1-317-29500-6. "Members of this organization say that one of its leaders, D. Utkin (call sign Wagner), is a rodnover, native faith believer"
435. ^ Ball, Tom (20 May 2023). "Rusich's neo-Nazi mercenaries head for Kharkiv" - via www.thetimes.co.uk.
436. ^ Oliphant, Roland (8 April 2022). "Russia sends in notorious neo-Nazi mercenaries to Ukraine". The Daily Telegraph - via www.telegraph.co.uk.
437. ^ Baker, Nick (13 April 2022). "The Wagner Group: Who are the shadowy Russian mercenaries in Ukraine?". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
438. ^ Reynolds, Nathaniel. "Putin's Not-So-Secret Mercenaries: Patronage, Geopolitics, and the Wagner Group". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
439. ^ "InformNapalm releases rpt on Russian private military companies fighting against Ukraine". Interfax-Ukraine. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
440. ^ Barabanov, Nina Nazarova and Ilya (20 February 2018). "The Russian guns for hire dying in Syria". BBC News.
441. ^ "В соцсетях обратили внимание на то, что у ЧВК "Вагнера" есть собственные награды за Сирию". znak.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
442. ^ "В республике Бурятия погибшего бойца ЧВК "Вагнера" почтили турниром :: InterRight". inright.ru. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
443. ^ "В Улан-Удэ почтили память погибшего в Сирии бойца ЧВК "Вагнер" » Информационное агентство МАНГАЗЕЯ". mngz.ru. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
444. ^ "В России впервые отмечают День добровольца". poliksal.ru. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
445. ^ "В Сети показали фото памятника "российским добровольцам" в Сирии". enovosty. Украинские новости дня. 23 January 2018.
446. ^ "В Сирии установили памятник российским добровольцам". altapress.ru. 24 January 2018.
447. ^ В Сирии нашли памятник «российским добровольцам» vz.ru, 23 January 2018.
448. ^ "В Донбассе и Сирии стоят памятники наемникам РФ из ЧВК Вагнера". news.liga.net. 10 April 2018.
449. ^ "Последний тайник "Вагнера" в Сирии сдали украинские волонтеры: фото". znaj.ua. 11 September 2018.
450. ^ "В Луганске установили памятник Российским добровольцам". Новости Крыма и Новороссии от Новоросс.info. 23 February 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
451. ^ "Вместо едких слов молитва за упокой: в часовне ЧВК Вагнера зажглась поминальная свеча". livekuban.ru. 27 August 2018.
452. ^ "#PutinAtWar: Krasnodar Joins Dead Mercenaries Society". Medium. 14 March 2019.
453. ^ Neil Munshi (14 January 2022). "From Russia with love: the making of a modern propaganda movie". Financial Times.(subscription required)
454. ^ New Movie Depicting Heroic Russian Instructors in Central African Republic Linked to 'Putin's Chef', The Moscow Times, 21 May 2021.
455. ^ "Wagner Group: Why the EU is alarmed by Russian mercenaries in Central Africa". BBC News. 19 December 2021.
456. ^ "Central African Republic Becoming a Hub of Russian Mercenary Group's Propaganda". 16 February 2022 - via www.voanews.com.
457. ^ Parker, Kris (12 September 2023). "Media: Rosgvardia recruiting convicts pardoned after fighting for Wagner". The Kyiv Independent. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
458. ^ Fornusek, Martin (27 September 2023). "Ukraine's military confirms Wagner fighters return to front". The Kyiv Independent. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
459. ^ "Ex-Prigozhin Aide to Oversee Volunteer Fighters in Ukraine – Kremlin". The Moscow Times. 29 September 2023. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
460. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Videos Show Ukrainian Special Forces 'Cleaning Up' Wagner Fighters in Sudan". The Kyiv Post. 6 November 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
461. ^ ANATOLY KURMANAEV; EKATERINA KOTRIKADZE; ALINA LOBZINA (13 November 2023). "Russia steps up efforts to lure Wagner veterans back to Ukraine war". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
462. ^ "The lost tablet and the secret documents". BBC News.
463. ^ "Notorious Putin soldier and two Russian generals reportedly killed". skynews. 7 June 2022.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Besenyo, János – Türke, András István – Szénási, Endre (2024): Wagner Group Private Military Company Volume 1: Establishment, Purpose, Profile and Historic Relevance 2013-2023, Series : Europe@War #42 Helion
* Marten, Kimberly (2019). "Russia's Use of Semi-state Security Forces: The Case of the Wagner Group". Post-Soviet Affairs. 35 (3): 181–204\. doi:10.1080/1060586X.2019.1591142. S2CID 159110194.
* Rondeaux, Candace (7 November 2019). "Decoding the Wagner Group: Analyzing the Role of Private Military Security Contractors in Russian Proxy Warfare". New America.
* Østensen, Åse Gilje; Bukkvol, Tor (11 September 2018). Russian Use of Private Military and Security Companies – the implications for European and Norwegian Security (PDF) (Report). Norwegian Defence Research Establishment.
* Christopher R. Spearin (2018). "Russia's Military and Security Privatization". US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters. 48 (2): 39–50.
* Østensen, Åse Gilje; Bukkvol, Tor (2022). "Private military companies – Russian great power politics on the cheap?". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 33 (1–2): 130–151\. doi:10.1080/09592318.2021.1984709. S2CID 244183330.1–2&rft.pages=130-151&rft.date=2022&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080/09592318.2021.1984709&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:244183330#id-name=S2CID&rft.aulast=Østensen&rft.aufirst=Åse+Gilje&rft.au=Bukkvol,+Tor&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Wagner+Group" class="Z3988">
* Potočňák, Adam; Mareš, Miroslav (2022). "Russia's Private Military Enterprises as a Multipurpose Tool of Hybrid Warfare". The Journal of Slavic Military Studies. 35 (2): 181–204\. doi:10.1080/13518046.2022.2132608. S2CID 253628744.
* Giles, Keir; Akimenko, Valeriy (2019). "Use and Utility of Russia's Private Military Companies" (PDF). Journal of Future Conflict (1).
* Sauer, Pjotr (10 February 2022). "'Mercenaries Have Skills Armies Lack': Former Wagner Operative Opens Up". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
* Sturdee, Nick (27 September 2021). "The Wagner Group Files". NewLines Magazine. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
* Parker, John W. (2017). Putin's Syrian Gambit: Sharper Elbows, Bigger Footprint, Stickier Wicket (PDF). Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Perspectives, No. 25. Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press. ISBN 9780160939983.
* Putin's Proxies: Examining Russia's Use of Private Military Companies, Hearing Before the Subcommittee on National Security of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventeenth Congress, Second Session, September 21, 2022 (Report). United States. Government Publishing Office. 2022.
* Alexander Clarkson (1 September 2022). "For Putin and Russia, the mercenaries of the Wagner Group could be a recipe for disaster". Business Insider.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Wagner Group at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Syrian civil war

Overviews

| Main overviews|

* Syria
* Syrian civil war
* Timeline
* Background and causes
* Syrian government reactions
* Belligerents
* Inter-rebel conflict
* Spillover
* Cities and towns
* Sectarianism and minorities
* Syrian Desert campaign (December 2017 – December 2024)
* 2024 Syrian opposition offensives
* Fall of the Assad regime

|

Effects and ongoing concerns|

* Casualties of the Syrian civil war
* Refugees of the Syrian civil war
* Humanitarian aid during the Syrian civil war
* Human rights violations during the Syrian civil war

Phases and processes|

* Syrian revolution
* Early insurgency phase
* 2012–2013 escalation
* Ceasefires
* Syrian peace process

World reaction|

* International reactions to the Syrian civil war
* Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war
* Reactions to the fall of the Assad regime

Specific groups and countries|

* Russian involvement
* Russian intervention
* Turkish involvement
* Turkish occupation of northern Syria
* Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone
* Russian-Turkish agreement on Syria
* US intervention in the Syrian civil war
* 2023 attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria
* Kurdish Area in Syria
* Syrian Democratic Forces
* Rojava conflict
* U.S. task force

Agreements and dialogues|

* Russian-Turkish agreement on Syria
* Relations between Syrian government and Kurdish groups in Syria

Transitional phase|

* Syrian caretaker government
* Syrian transitional government

Timeline

| Background|

* 1963 coup
* 1966 coup
* Corrective Movement
* Islamist uprising
* Latakia protests
* Damascus Spring
* Qamishli riots
* Syrian occupation of Lebanon
* Damascus Declaration
* Human rights in Syria
* 2010s in Syria political history
* Arab Spring

|

2011
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* Syrian revolution
* Death of Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb
* Siege of Daraa
* Siege of Baniyas
* May Talkalakh siege
* Siege of Rastan and Talbiseh
* June Jisr ash-Shughur operation
* Siege of Hama
* Siege of Homs
* Siege of Latakia
* Deir ez-Zor clashes (2011–2014)
* Rif Dimashq clashes (Nov 2011-Mar 2012)
* Battle of Zabadani
* Battle of Douma
* Daraa Governorate clashes
* Battle of Rastan
* Idlib Governorate clashes
* December Jabal al-Zawiya massacres

2012
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* January al-Midan bombing
* Battle of Rastan
* First Battle of Idlib
* Battle of al-Qusayr
* Idlib Governorate operation (Apr)
* Battle of Taftanaz
* May Battle of Rastan
* Houla massacre
* Battle of al-Haffah
* Al-Qubeir massacre
* Battle of Tremseh
* Battle of Damascus
* 18 July 2012 Damascus bombing
* Battle of Aleppo
* Battle of Anadan
* Siege of Base 46
* Al-Hasakah Governorate campaign (2012–2013)
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Aug-Oct)
* Darayya massacre
* Battle of Khirbet Al-Joz
* Battle of Maarrat al-Numan
* First siege of Wadi Deif
* Battle of Harem
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Nov 2012–Feb 2013)
* Battle of Darayya
* Aqrab massacre
* Hama offensive
* Halfaya massacre
* Battle of Darayya
* Quneitra Governorate clashes
* Talbiseh bakery massacre

2013
Jan–Apr
May–Dec|

* Battle of Safira
* Battle of Shadadeh
* Damascus offensive
* Raqqa campaign (2012–2013)
* Battle of Raqqa (Mar)
* Daraa offensive
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Mar–Aug)
* Battle of Jdaidet al-Fadl
* Ghouta chemical attack
* Al-Qusayr offensive
* Battle of al-Qusayr
* Bayda and Baniyas massacres
* Hama offensive
* Hatla massacre
* Khan al-Assal chemical attack
* Khan al-Assal massacre
* Adra massacre
* Battle of Ras al-Ayn
* Battle of Tell Abyad
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Sep–Nov)
* Aleppo offensive (Oct–Dec)
* Battle of al-Yaarubiyah
* Battle of Tell Hamis and Tell Brak (Dec–Jan)

2014
Jan–Jul
Aug–Dec|

* First Inter-rebel conflict
* Battle of Markada
* Deir ez-Zor offensive
* Battle of Morek
* Daraa offensive (Feb–May)
* Maan massacre
* Al-Otaiba ambush
* Idlib offensive
* Battle of Hosn
* Latakia Offensive
* Battle of Al-Malihah
* Kafr Zita chemical attack
* Second siege of Wadi Deif
* Qalamoun offensive (Jun–Aug)
* Battle of Arsal
* First Battle of the Shaer gas field
* Eastern Syria offensive
* Battle of Tabqa Airbase
* Northern Aleppo offensive (Feb–Jul)
* Hama Offensive
* Quneitra offensive
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Aug–Nov)
* Siege of Kobanî
* Homs school bombing
* Daraa offensive (Oct)
* Al-Safira offensive
* Idlib Raid
* Second Inter-Rebel Conflict
* Second Battle of the Shaer gas field
* Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin
* Deir ez-Zor offensive (Dec)

2015
Jan–Jul
Aug–Dec|

* Air Force An-26 crash
* Daraa Offensive (Jan)
* Southern Syria Offensive
* Eastern al-Hasakah offensive
* Battle of Sarrin (Mar–Apr)
* Battle of Sarrin (Jun–Jul)
* Battle of Bosra
* Idlib Offensive
* Second Battle of Idlib
* Battle of Nasib Border Crossing
* Battle of Yarmouk Camp
* Western al-Hasakah offensive
* Palmyra offensive (May)
* Qamishli bombings
* Tell Abyad offensive
* Kobanî massacre
* Quneitra offensive (Jun)
* Palmyra offensive (Jul–Aug)
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Sep)
* Northwestern Syria offensive (Oct–Nov)
* Aleppo offensive (Oct–Dec)
* Al-Hawl offensive
* Homs offensive (Nov-Dec)
* East Aleppo offensive (2015–2016)
* 2015–2016 Latakia offensive
* Tishrin Dam offensive
* Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown

2016
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* Second Battle of Al-Shaykh Maskin
* Deir ez-Zor offensive (Jan)
* January Sayyidah Zaynab bombings
* Northern Aleppo offensive (Feb)
* Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (Feb–Mar)
* Al-Shaddadi offensive
* February Homs bombings
* February Sayyidah Zaynab bombings
* Khanasir offensive
* Battle of Tel Abyad
* Battle of Maarrat al-Numan
* Battle of Qamishli (Apr)
* Northern Aleppo offensive (Mar–Jun)
* Palmyra offensive (Mar)
* East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict (Apr–May)
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Apr–May)
* Northern Raqqa offensive (May)
* May Jableh & Tartous bombings
* Ithriyah-Raqqa offensive (Jun)
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Jun–Oct)
* Manbij offensive
* Tokhar massacre
* Southern Aleppo campaign
* Battle of al-Rai (Aug)
* Operation Euphrates Shield
* Aleppo summer campaign
* Western al-Bab offensive (Sep)
* 5 September bombings
* September Deir ez-Zor air raid
* September Urum al-Kubra aid convoy attack
* Aleppo offensive (Sep–Oct)
* Dabiq offensive
* Western al-Bab offensive (Oct–Nov)
* Khan al-Shih offensive (Oct–Nov)
* Raqqa campaign
* Battle of al-Bab
* Aleppo offensive (Nov-Dec)
* Palmyra offensive (Dec)

2017
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* Wadi Barada offensive (2016–2017)
* January Azaz bombing
* Desert campaign (Dec 16–Apr 17)
* Idlib clashes (Jan–Mar)
* Deir ez-Zor offensive (Jan–Feb)
* Daraa offensive (Feb–Jun)
* Southwestern Daraa offensive (Feb)
* Qaboun offensive
* Palmyra offensive
* East Aleppo offensive (Jan–Apr)
* March Damascus bombings
* Al-Jinah airstrike
* Hama offensive (Mar–Apr)
* Battle of Tabqa
* Khan Shaykhun chemical attack
* Shayrat missile strike
* Aleppo bombing
* April Turkish airstrikes
* East Ghouta inter-rebel conflict (Apr–May)
* Desert campaign (May–Jul)
* Maskanah Plains offensive
* East Hama offensive
* Battle of Raqqa
* Daraa offensive (Jun)
* Southern Raqqa offensive (Jun)
* Jobar offensive (Jun–Aug)
* Quneitra offensive (Jun)
* Idlib clashes (Jul)
* Central campaign
* Qalamoun (Jul–Aug)
* Deir ez-Zor offensive (Sep 17–Mar 18)
* Hama offensive (Sep)
* Northwestern campaign (Oct 17–Feb 18)
* Turkish military operation in Idlib Governorate
* Battle of Harasta
* Eastern campaign (Sep–Dec)
* Euphrates Crossing offensive
* Mayadin offensive
* Battle of Deir ez-Zor (Sep–Nov)
* Abu Kamal offensive
* Beit Jinn offensive

2018
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* Operation Olive Branch
* Battle of Khasham
* Rif Dimashq offensive (Feb–Apr)
* Southern Damascus offensive (Jan–Feb)
* Syrian Liberation Front–Tahrir al-Sham conflict
* Southern Damascus offensive (Mar)
* Douma chemical attack
* Missile strikes (Apr)
* Northern Homs offensive (Apr–May)
* Eastern Qalamoun offensive (Apr)
* Southern Damascus offensive (Apr–May)
* Deir ez-Zor clashes (Apr)
* Deir ez-Zor offensive (May–Jun)
* As-Suwayda offensive (Jun)
* Southern offensive
* As-Suwayda attacks
* As-Suwayda (Aug-Nov)
* Qamishli clashes (Sep)
* Missile strikes (Sep)
* Northern border clashes

2019
Jan–Apr
May–Aug
Sep–Dec|

* Idlib inter-rebel conflict
* Manbij bombing
* Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
* ISIL insurgency in Deir-ez-Zor
* Dêrik prison escape attempt
* Tell Rifaat clashes
* Northwestern offensive (Apr–Aug)
* June bombings
* Hass refugee camp bombing
* Missile strikes (Aug)
* Turkish offensive into northeast
* Barisha raid
* November bombings
* Israeli missile strikes (Nov)
* Qah missile strike
* Northwestern offensive (Dec 19–Mar 20)
* US airstrikes

2020
Jan–Dec|

* COVID-19 pandemic
* Afrin bombing
* Idlib Governorate clashes
* Kafr-Takharim airstrike
* Ayn Issa clashes
* Deir ez-Zor ambush

2021
Jan–Dec|

* Siege of Qamishli and Al-Hasakah
* Missile strikes (Jan)
* US airstrike (Feb)
* Battle of Qamishli (Apr)
* US airstrike (Jun)
* Daraa clashes
* Tahrir al-Sham–Junud al-Sham conflict

2022
Jan–Dec|

* Battle of al-Hasakah
* Ahrar al-Sham–Levant Front clashes
* Jabal al-Bishrī clashes
* Jarqli airstrikes
* Northern Aleppo clashes (Oct)
* Operation Claw-Sword
* Northwest clashes (Dec)

2023
Jan-Dec|

* Al-Sukhnah attack
* Damascus airstrike
* Hama attack
* Northern border clashes

2024
Jan–Oct
Nov–present|

* Opposition offensives
* Deir ez-Zor offensive
* Battle of Aleppo
* Aleppo University Hospital airstrike
* Southern offensive
* Operation Dawn of Freedom
* Manbij offensive
* Al-Mustariha strike
* Kobani clashes
* Hama offensive
* Homs offensive
* Palmyra offensive
* Fall of Damascus
* Fall of the Assad regime
* Western Syria clashes
* Massacres of Syrian Alawites
* Hezbollah-Syria clashes
* Lebanon–Syria border clashes
* Rif Dimashq clashes
* Massacres of Syrian Druze
* Turkish offensive
* Israeli invasion

2025
Nov 2024
–present|

* Jaramana clashes
* Daraa clashes
* Southern clashes (April–May)
* Mar Elias Church attack
* Southern clashes (July–present)

Spillover|

| Israel and Golan Heights:|

* March 2017 incident
* February 2018 incident
* May 2018 Israel–Iran incidents

|

Iraq:|

* Akashat ambush
* Operation al-Shabah
* April 2014 Iraqi border airstrike

Jordanian border incidents|

* April 2014 Jordanian border airstrike

Lebanon:|

* Lebanese border clashes
* Battle of Sidon
* Iranian embassy bombing in Beirut
* North Lebanon clashes
* Qalamoun (Jul–Aug 2017)

Turkey:|

* December 2011 Turkish border clash
* 2012 Turkish F-4 Phantom shootdown
* 2012 Turkish border clashes
* 2013 Reyhanlı car bombings
* January 2014 Turkish attack in Syria
* Assassination of Andrei Karlov
* Russian Air Force Al-Bab incident
* 2020 Balyun airstrikes
* Operation Spring Shield

Elsewhere:|

* Deir ez-Zor missile strike (Iran)

Belligerents

| Ba'athist regime|

| Politics of Ba'athist Syria|

* Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
* Ba'ath Brigades
* Syrian Social Nationalist Party
* Arab Socialist Movement
* Syrian Communist Party
* Syrian Communist Party (Unified)

|

Military and militias|

* Lions of Hussein
* Guardians of the Dawn
* Arab Nationalist Guard
* Jaysh al-Muwahhidin
* Sootoro
* Ba'ath Brigades
* National Defence Forces
* Popular Committees
* Golan Regiment
* Syrian Arab Armed Forces
* Eagles of the Whirlwind
* The Islamic Resistance Front in Syria
* Military Council for the Liberation of Syria
* Syrian Popular Resistance
* Syrian Resistance
* Popular Resistance of the Eastern Region
* PFLP-GC
* Jihad Jibril Brigades
* Galilee Forces
* Free Palestine Movement
* Palestinian People's Party
* Liwa Fatemiyoun
* As-Sa'iqa
* al-Quds Brigade
* Palestine Liberation Army

Foreign support|

* Hezbollah involvement
* Iranian involvement
* Liwa Fatemiyoun
* Russian involvement
* medical facility targeting
* military intervention
* Wagner Group
* Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition
* Popular Mobilization Forces

Opposition|

| Interim government|

* National Coalition
* Local Coordination Committees
* Syrian National Council
* Supreme Council of the Syrian Revolution
* National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change
* Syrian Revolution General Commission
* Syrian Support Group
* Adopt a Revolution
* Syrian Patriotic Group

|

Opposition militias|

* Syrian National Army
* Free Syrian Army
* National Front for Liberation
* Army of Glory
* Authenticity and Development Front
* Army of Free Tribes
* Revolutionary Commando Army
* Muslim Brotherhood in Syria
* Grey Wolves
* Syrian Council of Tribes and Clans

Foreign support|

* US intervention
* Jordanian intervention
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Turkey

Autonomous Administration
of North and East Syria|

| DFNS Government|

* Democratic Union Party
* Kurdish National Council
* Smaller political parties

|

SDF militias|

* People's Protection Units
* Women's Protection Units
* Anti-Terror Units
* Al-Sanadid Forces
* Army of Revolutionaries
* SDF military councils
* Syriac Military Council
* Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa
* Northern Democratic Brigade

Support|

* Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
* Kurdistan Workers' Party
* International Freedom Battalion
* Sinjar Resistance Units
* Êzîdxan Women's Units

Islamists|

| Islamic State|

* Military activity of ISIL
* Dokumacılar
* Al-Barakah
* Khalid ibn al-Walid Army
* Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade
* Islamic Muthanna Movement
* Jaysh al-Jihad
* Jund al-Aqsa
* Group of the One and Only
* Liwa Dawud
* Liwa Aqab al-Islami
* Katibah Nusantara
* Katiba al-Bittar al-Libi
* Al-Khansaa Brigade
* Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah

|

al-Qaeda and allies|

* Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (Khorasan group, Suqour al-Ezz) Jaysh Muhammad in Bilad al-Sham
* Tahrir al-Sham
* Turkistan Islamic Party in Syria
* Caucasus Emirate
* Ajnad al-Kavkaz
* Junud al-Makhdi
* Rouse the Believers Operations Room (Ansar al-Tawhid (Firqat al-Ghuraba), Hurras al-Din, Ansar al-Din Front (Harakat Sham al-Islam), Ansar al-Islam in Kurdistan)
* Jaish al-Haramoun
* Jaysh al-Sunna
* Liwa al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (Green Battalion)
* Mujahideen Shura Council
* Malhama Tactical
* Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
* Katibat Jabal al-Islam
* Jama'at Ansar al-Furqan in Bilad al Sham
* Ghuraba al-Sham
* Taliban (Pakistani Taliban, Imam Bukhari Jamaat)
* Fatah al-Islam
* Muhajirin wa-Ansar Alliance (Liwaa al-Umma)

People

* Ammar Abdulhamid
* Ali al-Abdallah
* Adnan al-Aroor
* al-Assad family
* Bashar
* Maher
* Rifaat
* Rami Makhlouf
* Hafez Makhlouf
* Riad al-Asaad
* Hadi al-Bahra
* Anwar al-Bunni
* Fahd Jassem al-Freij
* Suheil al-Hassan
* Haitham al-Maleh
* Moaz al-Khatib
* Kamal al-Labwani
* Hamza al-Khateeb
* Tal al-Mallohi
* Fida al-Sayed
* Riad al-Turk
* Khaled Khoja
* Ammar al-Qurabi
* Suheir Atassi
* Ali Sadreddine Al-Bayanouni
* Aref Dalila
* Farid Ghadry
* Burhan Ghalioun
* Razan Ghazzawi
* Ghassan Hitto
* Salim Idris
* Randa Kassis
* Abdul Halim Khaddam
* Michel Kilo
* Bassma Kodmani
* Ali Habib Mahmud
* Ali Mahmoud Othman
* Ibrahim Qashoush
* Dawoud Rajiha
* Yassin al-Haj Saleh
* Bouthaina Shaaban
* Ahmed al-Sharaa
* Abdulbaset Sieda
* Riad Seif
* Fadwa Souleimane
* Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid
* Yaser Tabbara
* Razan Zaitouneh
* Rami Jarrah
* Abdurrahman Mustafa
* Fadlallah al-Haji

Related

| Elections|

* 2011 local elections
* 2012 parliamentary election
* 2014 presidential election
* 2015 Northern local elections
* 2016 parliamentary election
* 2017 Northern local elections
* 2017 Northern regional elections
* 2018 local elections
* 2020 parliamentary election
* 2021 presidential election

|

Issues|

* Casualties
* Cities and towns
* Chemical weapons
* Damaged heritage sites
* Foreign involvement
* Human rights violations
* Humanitarian aid
* International demonstrations and protests
* International reactions
* Massacres
* Mass graves
* Refugees
* Sectarianism and minorities
* Status of the Golan Heights
* Spillover in Lebanon
* Syrian government reactions

Peace process|

* Arab League monitors
* Friends of Syria Group
* Kofi Annan peace plan
* UN supervision mission
* Lakhdar Brahimi peace plan
* U.S.–Russia peace proposals
* 39th G8 summit
* UN Security Council Resolution 2118
* Geneva II conference
* 2015 Zabadani cease-fire agreement
* Vienna talks
* 2016 Geneva talks
* Idlib demilitarization (2018–present)
* First Northern Syria Demilitarization Deal
* Second Northern Syria Demilitarization Deal
* Syrian Negotiation Commission
* Syrian Constitutional Committee

Investigations/legal cases|

* Investigations
* International Commission
* Chemical weapons
* War crimes cases
* Germany
* Canada + Netherlands vs Syria

Related topics|

* Exclusive mandate
* Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference
* Syria Files
* Syrian detainee report
* Syrian media coverage
* 2015 European migrant crisis
* Syrian civil war in popular culture

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Russo-Ukrainian War

Background|

* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* Black Sea Fleet dispute
* Budapest Memorandum
* 2003 Tuzla Island conflict
* Orange Revolution
* 2007 Munich speech of Vladimir Putin
* Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
* Euromaidan
* Revolution of Dignity
* Putinism
* Foundations of Geopolitics
* Ruscism
* Russian irredentism
* Russian imperialism

Main events|

* Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
* timeline
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
* timeline
* 2014 Odesa clashes
* War in Donbas
* timeline
* List of Russian units which invaded the territory of Ukraine
* Wagnergate
* Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* reactions
* Russian invasion of Ukraine
* timeline
* 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* 2022 Russian annexation referendums
* 2023 Belgorod Oblast incursions
* destruction of the Kakhovka Dam

Impact and
reactions|

* International sanctions
* sanctioned people and organisations
* 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute
* Military aid to Ukraine
* OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine
* Act of 2014
* China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* North Korea and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Iran and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* ICJ case
* ORDLO
* ATO
* International reactions to the war in Donbas
* Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War
* journalists killed
* Foreign fighters in the Russo-Ukrainian War
* 2014 Crimean status referendum
* Political status of Crimea
* 2021 Black Sea incident
* 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis
* Economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Eurointegration of Ukraine
* Soviet imagery
* Lend-Lease (2022)
* Diplomatic expulsions
* Russian spies
* ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin
* Wagner Group rebellion
* LGBT people
* Lukoil oil transit dispute
* Ukrainian energy crisis

Cyberwarfare|

* 2015 Ukraine power grid hack
* 2016 Kyiv cyberattack
* 2016 Surkov leaks
* 2017 Ukraine ransomware attacks
* 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks
* IT Army of Ukraine
* 2022 activities of Anonymous against Russia
* 2024 Ukrainian cyberattacks against Russia

Media|

* Little green men
* Social media
* Media portrayal
* Disinformation in the 2022 invasion
* Propaganda in Russia
* Films

Related|

* Russia–Ukraine relations
* Russian language in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
* 2014 anti-war protests in Russia
* 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism
* Control of cities
* Aircraft losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Ship losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Ukraine and electronic warfare
* Ukrainian conscription crisis
* Forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War

Overview

General|

* Outline
* Timeline
* Prelude
* Feb–Apr 2022
* Apr–Aug 2022
* Aug–Nov 2022
* Nov 2022 – Jun 2023
* Jun–Aug 2023
* Sep–Nov 2023
* Dec 2023 – Mar 2024
* Apr–Jul 2024
* Aug–Dec 2024
* Jan–May 2025
* Jun 2025 – present
* Aerial warfare
* Defense lines
* Foreign fighters
* Information war
* Naval warfare
* Legality
* Map
* Order of battle
* Peace negotiations
* Ukraine's Peace Formula
* China peace proposal
* June 2024 peace summit
* Proposed no-fly zone
* Red lines
* Reparations
* Territorial control

Prelude|

* Reactions
* Disinformation
* Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory
* Ukraine and weapons of mass destruction
* 2021 Russia–United States summit
* 2021 Black Sea incident
* Belarus–European Union border crisis
* "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians"
* Crimea Platform
* Zapad 2021
* December 2021 ultimatum
* 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks
* Zametil 2022
* Union Resolve 2022
* Stanytsia Luhanska kindergarten bombing
* British–Polish–Ukrainian trilateral pact
* Evacuation of the Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* Mobilization in Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* "Address concerning the events in Ukraine"
* "On conducting a special military operation"

Background|

* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
* Annexation of Crimea
* reactions
* War in Donbas
* 2022 timeline
* Minsk agreements
* humanitarian situation
* international recognition of the Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* Putinism
* Foundations of Geopolitics
* Novorossiya
* Ruscism
* Russian irredentism
* Russian imperialism

Foreign
relations|

* Russia–Ukraine
* Belarus–Ukraine
* Belarus–Russia
* Russia–United States
* Ukraine–United States
* Russia–NATO
* Ukraine–NATO
* enlargement of NATO
* eastward expansion controversy
* open door policy

Military engagements

Southern
Ukraine|

* Snake Island campaign
* Siege of Mariupol
* Battle of Kherson
* Capture of Melitopol
* Battle of Mykolaiv
* Battle of Enerhodar
* Battle of Voznesensk
* Kherson counteroffensive
* Liberation of Kherson
* Dnieper campaign
* Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam

Eastern
Ukraine|

* Battle of Volnovakha
* Battle of Kharkiv
* Battle of Izium
* Battle of Rubizhne
* Battle of Popasna
* Battle of Marinka
* Battle of Donbas
* Battle of the Siverskyi Donets
* Battle of Sievierodonetsk
* Battle of Lysychansk
* Battle of Pisky
* Battle of Bakhmut
* Battle of Soledar
* Battle of Vuhledar
* Kharkiv counteroffensive
* Battle of Lyman (September–October 2022)
* Luhansk Oblast campaign
* Kupiansk
* Northeast Donetsk
* Battle of Avdiivka
* Battle of Chasiv Yar
* Battle of Krasnohorivka
* Battle of Ocheretyne
* Battle of Toretsk
* Pokrovsk offensive
* Battle of Kurakhove
* Dobropillia offensive

Northern
Ukraine|

* Capture of Chernobyl
* Russian Kyiv convoy
* Battle of Kyiv
* Battle of Antonov Airport
* Battle of Hostomel
* Battle of Bucha
* Battle of Irpin
* Battle of Makariv
* Battle of Moshchun
* Destruction of the Kozarovychi Dam
* Battle of Brovary
* Battle of Slavutych
* Battle of Sumy
* Siege of Chernihiv
* Northeastern border skirmishes
* 2025 Sumy offensive

Russia|

* Bryansk Oblast raid
* Kremlin drone attack
* Moscow drone strikes
* 2023 Belgorod Oblast incursions
* 30 December 2023 Belgorod shelling
* February 2024 Belgorod missile strike
* May 2024 Belgorod missile strike
* March 2024 western Russia incursion
* Kursk campaign
* occupation
* Battles for Olgovskiy Forest
* Toropets depot explosions

Airstrikes
by city|

* Chernihiv strikes
* Dnipro strikes
* Huliaipole strikes
* Ivano-Frankivsk strikes
* Kharkiv strikes
* Kherson strikes
* Khmelnytskyi strikes
* Kryvyi Rih strikes
* Kyiv strikes
* Lviv strikes
* Mykolaiv strikes
* Odesa strikes
* Rivne strikes
* Vinnytsia strikes
* Zaporizhzhia strikes
* Zhytomyr strikes

Airstrikes
on military
targets|

* Chuhuiv air base attack
* Millerovo air base attack
* Chornobaivka attacks
* 7 March 2022 Mykolaiv military barracks attack
* Yavoriv military base attack
* 18 March 2022 Mykolaiv military quarters attack
* Berdiansk port attack
* Sinking of the Moskva
* Desna barracks airstrike
* Attack on Nova Kakhovka
* Crimea attacks
* Saky air base attack
* Drone attack on the Sevastopol Naval Base
* Missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters
* Dyagilevo and Engels air bases attacks
* Makiivka military quarters shelling
* Machulishchy air base attack
* Zarichne barracks airstrike
* Operation Spider's Web

Resistance|

| Russian-occupied Ukraine|

* Popular Resistance of Ukraine
* Berdiansk Partisan Army
* Yellow Ribbon
* Atesh

|

Belarusian and Russian partisans|

* Assassination of Vladlen Tatarsky
* Civic Council
* Irpin Declaration
* Killing of Darya Dugina
* National Republican Army
* Military commissariats arsons
* Ust-Ilimsk military commissariat shooting
* Black Bridge
* Rail war in Russia
* Stop the Wagons
* Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists
* Rail war in Belarus
* Busly liaciać
* BYPOL
* Community of Railway Workers
* Cyber Partisans

Russian
occupations|

* Flags used in Russian-occupied Ukraine

Ongoing|

* Annexation referendums
* Annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
* Elections in Russian-occupied Ukraine
* Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine
* Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol
* Donetsk Oblast
* Kharkiv Oblast
* Kherson Oblast
* Luhansk Oblast
* Mykolaiv Oblast
* Zaporizhzhia Oblast
* Sumy Oblast (2025, reentry)

Previous|

* Chernihiv Oblast
* Kyiv Oblast
* Odesa Oblast
* Sumy Oblast (2022)
* Zhytomyr Oblast

Potentially
related|

* Black Sea drone incident
* Bridge collapses in Russia
* Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant drone strike
* Mystery fires in Russia
* Transnistria attacks
* Zagreb Tu-141 crash

Other|

* 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion
* 2023 Crimean Bridge explosion
* 2025 Crimean Bridge explosion
* Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy
* Coup d'état attempt in Ukraine
* Bridges in the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Dragon drone
* Violations of non-combatant airspaces
* Missile explosion in Poland
* Operation Synytsia
* Ukraine and electronic warfare
* Use of long-range weapons by Ukraine in Russia
* 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive
* 2024 Ukrainian cyberattacks against Russia
* Wagner Group rebellion

War crimes

General|

* Accusations of genocide in Donbas
* Allegations of genocide of Ukrainians
* child abductions
* Attacks on hospitals
* Cluster munitions
* Incendiary weapons
* Landmines
* Russian filtration camps
* Russian mobile crematoriums
* Russian theft of Ukrainian grain
* Russian torture chambers
* Looting
* Sexual violence
* Mistreatment of prisoners of war

Attacks on
civilians|

* February 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Kharkiv government building airstrike
* 3 March Chernihiv bombing
* Irpin refugee column shelling
* Mariupol hospital airstrike
* Stara Krasnianka care house attack
* Mykolaiv cluster bombing
* March 2022 Donetsk attack
* 2022 Borodianka airstrikes
* Chernihiv breadline attack
* Mariupol theatre airstrike
* Kyiv shopping centre bombing
* Sumykhimprom ammonia leak
* March 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Mykolaiv government building missile strike
* Bucha massacre
* Kramatorsk railway station attack
* April 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Bilohorivka school bombing
* Shooting of Andrii Bohomaz
* Maisky Market attack
* Kremenchuk shopping mall attack
* Serhiivka missile strike
* Chasiv Yar missile strike
* Olenivka prison massacre
* Kharkiv dormitories missile strike
* Chaplyne railway station attack
* Izium mass graves
* September 2022 Donetsk attack
* Zaporizhzhia civilian convoy attack
* Kupiansk civilian convoy shelling
* Zaporizhzhia residential building airstrike
* Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
* 2023 Dnipro residential building airstrike
* Sloviansk airstrike
* Uman missile strike
* Kramatorsk restaurant missile strike
* Lyman cluster bombing
* 2023 Pokrovsk missile strike
* Chernihiv missile strike
* Kostiantynivka missile strike
* Hroza missile attack
* Volnovakha massacre
* December 2023 strikes
* 2024 Pokrovsk missile strike
* 2024 Donetsk attack
* Lysychansk missile strike
* 6 March 2024 Odesa strike
* March 2024 strikes
* Human safari (terror campaign)
* May 2024 Kharkiv strikes
* 8 July 2024 strikes
* 2024 Kostiantynivka supermarket missile attack
* 26 August 2024 strikes
* September 2024 Poltava strike
* November 2024 strikes
* February 2025 Poltava strike
* 2025 Sumy airstrike

Crimes
against
soldiers|

* Torture of Russian soldiers in Mala Rohan
* Torture and castration of a Ukrainian POW in Pryvillia
* Rape of Donetsk People's Republic soldiers by Kadyrovites
* Murder of Yevgeny Nuzhin
* Makiivka surrender incident
* Execution of Oleksandr Matsievskyi
* 2022 Ukrainian prisoner of war beheading

Legal cases|

* ICC investigation
* Arrest warrants
* ICJ court case
* Task Force on Accountability
* Universal jurisdiction
* Crime of aggression tribunal
* Criminal proceedings
* Vadim Shishimarin
* Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov
* Anton Cherednik

Reactions

States
and
official
entities|

| General|

* Sanctions
* people and organizations
* restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad Oblast
* Military aid
* European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine
* People's Bayraktar
* Signmyrocket.com
* Humanitarian aid
* Sanctioned yachts
* Relations with Russia

|

Ukraine|

* Application to NATO
* Be Brave Like Ukraine
* Brave1
* Bring Kids Back UA
* Ban on Russia-associated religious groups
* Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War
* Decolonization and derussification law
* Delta
* Destroyed Russian military equipment exhibition
* For Courage and Bravery (Ukraine)
* Grain From Ukraine
* Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief
* Hero City
* I Want to Live
* International Legion and other foreign units
* Belarusian Volunteer Corps
* Terror Battalion
* Black Maple Company
* Canadian-Ukrainian Brigade
* Freedom of Russia Legion
* German Volunteer Corps
* Karelian National Battalion
* Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment
* Norman Brigade
* Pahonia Regiment
* Polish Volunteer Corps
* Romanian Battlegroup Getica
* Russian Volunteer Corps
* Separate Special Purpose Battalion
* Sibir Battalion
* Turan Battalion
* International Sponsors of War
* Forced confiscation law of Russian property [ru; uk]
* Look for Your Own
* Lukoil sanctions
* Martial law
* Mobilization
* Media Center Ukraine
* National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the War [uk]
* National Multi-Subject Test [uk]
* North Korea–Ukraine relations
* Points of Invincibility
* Recognition of Ichkeria
* Rescuer City
* Save Ukrainian Culture [uk]
* Syria–Ukraine relations
* Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
* United24
* United News

Russia|

* highways in the annexed territories
* A290
* A291 "Tavrida"
* R260
* R280 "Novorossiya"
* 2022 Moscow rally
* 2023 Moscow rally
* 2022 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2023 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2024 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2023 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly
* Blockade of Ukraine [ru]
* Bohdan Khmelnytsky Battalion
* Censorship in Russia [ru]
* Chechnya
* Pro-Ukrainian Chechen fighters
* Conmemorative Medal "Participant of a Special Military Operation" [ru]
* Conversations about Important Things
* Krasovsky case
* Legalization of parallel imports [ru]
* Manifesto of the South Russian People's Council
* Martial law
* Masha Moskalyova case
* Metropolis of Crimea
* Mikhail Simonov case
* Mobilization
* Recruitment of irregular forces [ru]
* Operation Doppelgänger
* Opinion polling [ru]
* Orthodox Christmas truce proposal
* Wagner Group–Ministry of Defense conflict
* Russian Orthodox clergymen appeal against war
* Salvation Committee for Peace and Order
* Special Coordinating Council
* Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory
* Unfriendly countries list
* War censorship laws
* We Are Together. Sports
* "What Russia Should Do with Ukraine"

United
States|

* 2022 Joe Biden speech in Warsaw
* 2022 State of the Union Address
* Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022
* Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023
* Disinformation Governance Board
* Executive Order 14071
* Pentagon document leaks
* Task Force KleptoCapture
* Ukraine Defense Contact Group
* Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act
* Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative

Other
countries|

* Belarus
* Canada
* Canada–Ukraine authorization for emergency travel
* China
* Closer ties with Russia
* Chinese peace plan
* Hong Kong
* Croatia
* Denmark
* Danish European Union defence opt-out referendum
* France
* Mission Aigle
* Georgia
* Germany
* German Taurus controversy
* Taurus leak
* Zeitenwende speech
* Hungary
* India
* Operation Ganga
* Iran
* Closer ties with Russia
* Israel
* Operation Israel Guarantees
* Lithuania
* Moldova
* New Zealand
* Russia Sanctions Act
* North Korea
* Poland
* border crisis with Ukraine
* Syria [ru]
* Taiwan
* United Kingdom
* Economic Crime Act
* Homes for Ukraine
* Operation Interflex
* 2025 London Summit on Ukraine
* Coalition of the willing

United
Nations|

* Emergency special session
* Resolution ES-11/1
* Resolution ES-11/2
* Resolution ES-11/3
* Resolution ES-11/4
* Resolution ES-11/5
* Resolution ES-11/6
* Resolution ES-11/7
* Security Council Resolution 2623
* Resolution A/RES/77/229
* Easter truce

International
organizations|

* Accession of Moldova to the EU
* Accession of Ukraine to the EU
* Brussels summit
* European Political Community
* 1st summit
* 2nd summit
* 3rd summit
* Madrid summit
* NATO virtual summit
* Operation Oscar
* Ramstein Air Base meeting
* EU–Ukraine Summit
* REPowerEU
* Steadfast Defender 2024
* SWIFT ban against Russian banks
* Ukraine Recovery Conference
* Versailles declaration
* 2023 Vilnius summit
* 15th BRICS summit
* 2024 Washington summit
* Weimar+

Other|

* Consecration of Russia
* F-16 training coalition
* Finland–NATO relations
* Finland–Russia border barrier
* Iron diplomacy
* Proposed Russian annexation of South Ossetia
* Removal of monuments and memorials
* Streets renamed
* Ukraine Square, Oslo
* Serving heads of state and government that have visited Ukraine during the invasion
* Sweden–NATO relations
* Swedish anti-terrorism bill

Public|

| Protests|

* In Ukraine
* in Russian-occupied Ukraine
* demolition of monuments to Alexander Pushkin
* ArmWomenNow
* Ukrainian Artistic Front
* In Russia
* Angry patriots
* Club of Angry Patriots
* Anti-War Committee
* Suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople
* Congress of People's Deputies
* Council of Mothers and Wives
* Feminist Anti-War Resistance
* Flower protests
* Marina Ovsyannikova
* Russian Action Committee
* North Caucasian protests
* 2022 Russian Far East protests
* State Duma initiative for charging Vladimir Putin of high treason
* White-blue-white flag
* In Belarus
* In China
* Great Translation Movement
* In Czech Republic
* Czech Republic First!

|

Companies|

* Address of the Russian Union of Rectors
* Boycott of Russia and Belarus
* "Do not buy Russian goods!"
* E.N.O.T. Corp.
* Igor Mangushev
* McDonald's in Russia
* Vkusno i tochka
* NashStore [ru]
* People's Satellite
* Starlink satellites
* Stop Bloody Energy
* Wagner Group
* Andrey Aleksandrovich Medvedev
* Death of Nemes Tarimo
* Yale CELI List of Companies

Technology|

* Anonymous and the invasion
* alerts.in.ua
* DDoS attacks on Romania
* DeepStateMap.Live
* Denys Davydov
* IT Army of Ukraine
* Killnet
* Liveuamap
* Open-source intelligence
* peacenotwar
* Russian Asset Tracker
* Squad303 [pl]
* Ukraine Siren Alerts
* Wikipedia
* threat to block in Russia
* detention of Mark Bernstein

Spies|

* Diplomatic expulsions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Russian spies in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Other|

* Association of Azovstal Defenders' Families
* Black Sea Grain Initiative
* Collaboration with Russia
* We Are Together with Russia
* Concert for Ukraine
* Free Buryatia Foundation
* Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum
* Game4Ukraine
* Get Lost
* Global Tour for Peace
* Go by the Forest
* Guide to the Free World
* Mozart Group
* Olena Zelenska Foundation
* Open letter from Nobel laureates
* Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion
* Rubikus.HelpUA
* Ruslan Shostak Charitable Foundation
* Russia's War Crimes House
* Save Ukraine
* Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online
* Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation
* Spain letter bomb attacks
* Yermak-McFaul Expert Group on Russian Sanctions
* Pavel Filatyev
* True Russia
* Volos Declaration
* Vyvozhuk
* Wimbledon ban

Impact

Effects|

* Aircraft losses
* Casualties
* journalists killed
* Russian generals killed
* Economic impact
* Inflation surge
* 2022 Moldovan energy crisis
* 2022–2023 protests
* 2025 Moldovan energy crisis
* Russia–EU gas dispute
* 2022 Nord Stream pipelines sabotage
* Russian debt default
* 2022 Russian oil price cap
* 2022-2024 German economic crisis
* 2023 Russian oil products sanctions and price cap
* EU natural gas price cap
* Education
* End of the Whisky War
* Environmental impact
* European re-armament
* Eurovision Song Contest 2022
* Russia
* Ukraine
* Eurovision Song Contest 2023
* Food crises
* Impact on theatre [uk]
* List of notable deaths
* Lukoil oil transit dispute
* Nuclear power plants
* Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis
* Nuclear risk
* Religion
* Russian emigration
* The Ark
* Ship losses
* Ukrainian cultural heritage
* art theft and looting
* damaged cultural sites
* Trauma
* Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline explosion
* Ukrainian energy crisis
* Violations of non-combatant airspaces
* Women

Human
rights|

* Humanitarian impact
* Ukrainian refugee crisis
* 2025 Amsterdam stabbing attack
* Sobieskiego 100
* UN Commission of Inquiry
* UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission

Terms,
phrases|

* "And now I will show you where the attack on Belarus was prepared from"
* "Anglo-Saxons"
* "Bavovna"
* "Grandpa in his bunker"
* "Good evening, we are from Ukraine"
* "Orc"
* "Putin khuylo!"
* "Khuy Voyne!"
* "Russia is here forever [uk]"
* "Russian warship, go fuck yourself"
* "Slava Ukraini!"
* "Special military operation"
* "To bomb Voronezh"
* "Strength is in truth"
* "Westsplaining"
* "Where have you been for eight years?"
* "Without you"

Popular
culture|

| Songs|

* "12"
* "Bakhmut Fortress"
* "Bayraktar"
* "Bilia topoli"
* "City of Mary"
* "Flowers of Minefields"
* "Generation Cancellation"
* "Generation Z"
* "I'm Russian"
* "Oyda"
* "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!"
* "Mama ŠČ!"
* "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna"
* "Slava Ukraini!"
* "Stefania"
* "Ukraine"
* "Crushed"

|

Films|

* 20 Days in Mariupol
* A Rising Fury
* Follow Me
* Intercepted
* Russians at War
* Turn in the Wound
* Ukraine on Fire 2 [uk]

Other|

* Babylon'13
* Back to the Cold War
* Borodianka cat [uk]
* Ghost of Kyiv
* Kherson watermelon
* Královec Region
* Madonna of Kyiv
* North Atlantic Fella Organization
* Newspeak in Russia
* Patron
* "Putler"
* "Putinversteher"
* Raccoon of Kherson
* Saint Javelin
* Saint Mariuburg [ru; uk]
* Vasylkiv maiolica rooster
* Vladimir Putin's meeting table
* Walk of the Brave
* "Z" military symbol

Key people

Ukrainians|

* Volodymyr Zelenskyy
* speeches during the invasion
* visit to the United States
* visit to the United Kingdom
* visits to Europe
* Anatolii Kryvonozhko
* Anatoliy Barhylevych
* Andrii Hnatov
* Andriy Biletsky
* Andriy Yermak
* Denys Shmyhal
* Denys Kireyev X
* Denys Monastyrsky †
* Denys Prokopenko
* Ihor Klymenko
* Iryna Venediktova
* Kyrylo Budanov
* Mykhailo Drapatyi
* Mykola Oleschuk
* Oleksandr Pavlyuk
* Oleksandr Syrskyi
* Oleksii Reznikov
* Oleksiy Danilov
* Oleksiy Neizhpapa
* Ruslan Khomchak
* Rustem Umerov
* Sergiy Kyslytsya
* Serhiy Shaptala
* Serhii Sternenko
* Valerii Zaluzhnyi
* Vasyl Malyuk
* Vitali Klitschko
* Yevhen Moisiuk
* Yulia Svyrydenko

Russians|

* Vladimir Putin
* Aleksandr Dvornikov
* Aleksandr Lapin
* Aleksey Dyumin
* Aleksey Nagin †
* Alexander Bortnikov
* Andrei Kolesnikov
* Andrei Sychevoi
* Andrey Belousov
* Andrey Vorobyov
* Dmitry Medvedev
* Gennady Zhidko #
* Igor Kastyukevich
* Ivan Popov
* Mikhail Mishustin
* Maria Lvova-Belova
* Nikolai Patrushev
* Oleg Salyukov
* Oleg Tsokov †
* Ramzan Kadyrov
* Roman Berdnikov
* Rustam Muradov
* Sergey Kobylash
* Sergey Lavrov
* Sergey Naryshkin
* Sergei Shoigu
* Sergey Surovikin
* Timur Ivanov
* Valery Gerasimov
* Viktor Sokolov
* Viktor Zolotov
* Vitaly Gerasimov
* Vyacheslav Gladkov
* Vyacheslav Volodin
* Yevgeny Prigozhin X

Other|

* Alexander Lukashenko
* Denis Pushilin
* Leonid Pasechnik
* Sergey Aksyonov
* Vitaly Ganchev
* Vladimir Saldo
* Yevgeny Balitsky
* Yuriy Barbashov

Related

* 2023 North Korea–Russia summit
* 2023 visit by Joe Biden to Ukraine
* 2023 visit by Fumio Kishida to Ukraine
* 2023 visit by Xi Jinping to Russia
* 2023 visit by Yoon Suk Yeol to Ukraine
* 2025 Putin–Trump call
* Anti-drone mesh
* Anti-Russian sentiment
* Anti-Ukrainian sentiment
* Antonov An-225 Mriya
* Axis of Upheaval
* Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
* Azovstal Iron and Steel Works
* Brovary helicopter crash
* Bryansk Oblast military aircraft crashes
* Claims of Vladimir Putin's incapacity and death
* Decolonization in Ukraine
* Decommunization in Ukraine
* Derussification in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Alexander Pushkin in Ukraine
* Foreign leaders that have visited during the invasion
* Institute for the Study of War
* Irkutsk Su-30 crash
* Ivanovo Ilyushin Il-76 crash
* Korochansky Ilyushin Il-76 crash
* Kyivstar cyberattack
* Lady R incident
* Moldovan coup d'état attempt allegations
* Nord Stream 2
* Proposed Russian annexation of Transnistria
* Punisher
* Russian nuclear weapons
* Sarmat
* Rico Krieger
* Russian military presence in Transnistria
* Ryazan Il-76 crash
* Siberian wildfires
* Sinhury mid-air collision [uk; zh]
* Soloti military training ground shooting
* Soviet imagery
* Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support
* Turtle tank
* U-24 association
* Ukrainian-African Renaissance
* Ukrainian conscription crisis
* Western long-range weapons in Russia
* Ural Airlines Flight 1383
* "The Vladimir Putin Interview"
* Voronezh An-26 crash
* Wagner Group plane crash
* Yeysk Su-34 crash
* Yaroslav Hunka scandal
* Time of Heroes

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Vladimir Putin

* 2nd and 4th President of Russia (2000–2008; 2012–present)
* 33rd Prime Minister of Russia (1999–2000, 2008–2012)

Political activities|

* Electoral history
* Presidential elections
* 2000
* campaign
* 2004
* campaign
* 2012
* campaign
* 2018
* campaign
* 2024
* campaign
* First Cabinet
* Second Cabinet
* All-Russia People's Front
* United Russia

Presidency|

* Inaugurations
* first
* second
* third
* fourth
* fifth
* Political groups
* Putinism
* Sovereign democracy
* Speeches
* Munich 2007
* Crimea 2014
* Valdai 2014
* Federal Assembly 2020
* Donetsk and Luhansk 2022
* Ukraine 2022
* Moscow 2022
* Moscow 2023
* Protests
* 2011–2013
* 2014 anti-war protests
* 2017–2018
* 2019 Moscow election protests
* 2020–2021 Khabarovsk Krai protests
* 2021
* 2021 election protests
* 2022 anti-war protests
* Opposition
* Arrest warrant
* Wagner Group rebellion

Domestic policy|

* Legislation and programs
* national champions
* priority projects
* stabilization fund
* Managed nationalism
* Putin's Plan
* 2008–2009 recession
* 2014–2016 financial crisis
* 2022 mobilization

Foreign policy|

| General|

* International trips
* President
* Prime Minister
* Russian world

|

Asia|

* China
* 2023 Xi Jinping visit to Russia
* 2024 Vladimir Putin visit to China
* North Korea summits
* 2019
* 2023
* 2024
* Syrian civil war
* military intervention

Europe|

* European energy sector
* Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
* 2008 Russo-Georgian war
* Russo-Ukrainian War
* 2014 annexation of Crimea
* War in Donbas
* Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* December 2021 ultimatum
* 2022 invasion
* 2022 annexations in Ukraine

North America|

* United States summits
* Slovenia 2001
* Slovakia 2005
* Helsinki 2018
* Geneva 2021
* Alaska 2025
* 2024 Ankara prisoner exchange
* Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty

Family|

| Partners|

* Lyudmila Putina (former wife)
* Alina Kabaeva (alleged)
* Svetlana Krivonogikh (alleged)

|

Children|

* Maria Vorontsova (daughter)
* Katerina Tikhonova (daughter)

Maternal|

* Vera Putina (alleged mother)

Paternal|

* Spiridon Putin (grandfather)
* Igor Putin (first cousin)
* Roman Putin (son of Igor Putin)

Other|

* Pets
* Konni \- family dog
* Jorrit Faassen (former son-in-law)
* Kirill Shamalov (former son-in-law)

Public image|

| General|

* KGB Career
* Language
* Medvedev–Putin tandemocracy

|

Followers|

* Chapel of Russia's Resurrection
* Nashi
* PutinTeam
* Putinversteher
* Walking Together

Tributes|

* "A man like Putin"
* Happy Birthday, Mr. Putin!
* Vladimir Putin Peak

Media|

* Direct Line with Vladimir Putin
* Documentaries
* Putin: The New Tsar
* Putin's Palace
* Interviews
* Oliver Stone
* Tucker Carlson
* Songs
* Other
* Spitting Image

Criticism|

* Grandpa in his bunker
* NTV affair
* Putin khuylo!
* Putin Must Go
* Putin. Corruption
* Putin. War
* Putinland
* Putler

Other|

* Meeting table
* Jokes
* Claims of body doubles
* Claims of incapacity and death

* ← Dmitry Medvedev

* ← Boris Yeltsin
* Dmitry Medvedev →

* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* Czech Republic

Other|

* Yale LUX

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