The Wagner Group made international headlines at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the mercenary group accused of some of the worst war crimes in Ukraine. But after an attempted coup in 2023 and the sudden death of the group’s figurehead, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash soon after, they have barely been heard from. Karen Phillippa Larsen, a specialist in Russian mercenaries, examines how they’re still being used by Vladimir Putin, and why.

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