WAGNER - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News: Russia’s
Wagner to kill rival soldiers, won’t take prisoners in Ukraine
What's in the news?
● The
chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said his men fighting in the
flashpoint eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut would kill rival soldiers and take
no more prisoners.
Wagner Group:
● The
Wagner Group also known as PMC Wagner is a Russian
paramilitary organization.
● The
group is believed to have been founded in 2014 by a Russian veteran of the
Chechen war who so admired Hitler he named the group after Richard Wagner, the
führer’s favorite composer.
● The
skull is the symbol of the Wagner
Group.
● The
organization first came to the world’s attention in 2014, fighting alongside
Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
● The
organization has also been active across Africa in recent years - Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, Mali and the
Central African Republic.
● Today
there are thought to be some 10,000 Wagner Group members.
● The
U.S. government has called Wagner a “proxy force” of Russia’s defense ministry.
Legal Status:
● The
group is not registered as a legal
entity anywhere in the world.