Who are the Wagner Group of Mercenaries?

About Wagner Group

• What is it? The Wagner Group also known as PMC Wagner is a Russian paramilitary organization.
• Origin: 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.

What does the term ‘führer’ mean?

• Führer, also spelled Fuehrer means leader.
• It is a title used by Adolf Hitler to define his role of absolute authority.
• As early as July 1921 he had declared the Führerprinzip (“leader principle”) to be the law of the Nazi Party.

Q1) Where is Donbas region located?

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions — collectively known as the Donbas — are in eastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.

Source: Wagner Group Chief Using Soledar To Discredit Russian Armed Forces: ISW

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