Putin’s Mercenaries, 2014-2024: The Wagner Group and Other Russian Pmcs

This illustrated study tells the story of the Russian mercenary force led by business tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, and the mutiny it launched against Putin’s government in 2023.

Conceived by the Kremlin in 2013 as an instrument of ’deniable’ power projection, the Wagner private military company (PMC) - or mercenary force - was a fixture of Russian foreign deployments for nine years. Led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, it was first deployed in the Donbas region of Ukraine during the undeclared war of 2014, went on to play a key role in Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war from 2015, and then extended its activities to six African countries and even Venezuela. It would, however, become most infamous as one of the key fighting forces in President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, before shocking the world by launching an armed mutiny in June 2023.

In this compelling new account, leading expert on modern Russia Mark Galeotti examines the decade-long career of the Wagner Group, considering how it came to be, its actions across the globe and the events and motivations involved in its rebellion and eventual dissolution. Interspersed with orders of battle, units and actions, as well as profiles of all the key figures, this vital analysis is complemented by rare photographs and eight newly commissioned artwork plates.

Mark Galeotti is a scholar of Russian security affairs with a career spanning academia, government service and business, a prolific author and frequent media commentator. He heads the Mayak Intelligence consultancy and is an Honorary Professor at University College London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies as well as holding fellowships with RUSI, the Council on Geostrategy and the Institute of International Relations Prague. He is the author of over 25 books including many for Osprey.