Wagner is no longer on everyone's lips, especially since the Chief Prigoschin fell from grace and his star burned out. The march to Moscow was just too much, and even if the Russian leadership does not want to conduct the Ukraine war as a "conventional war", but as a "Military Special Operation", they are now giving up a partner like PMC Wagner as a substitute army, whose autonomy suddenly became threatening for the central authority. From an outside perspective, Wagner quickly became a modern myth: Russian mercenaries with worldwide operations. Additionally, a total work of art in the Prigoschin corporate conglomerate, which could not exist without the approval and support of the highest authorities.

Given the closed nature of the Russian world to our understanding and the sensationalism, there is a lot of literature about PMC Wagner - and most of it is not particularly good. This is different with this book: "The Mercenaries of the Kremlin" is based on the OSINT research of a collective called "All eyes on Wagner", which has been researching the Russian PMC for years. The authors explain the origin of the company and follow it from Syria to Libya and to various African countries, where Russian mercenaries are deployed, fields are politically manipulated, and natural resources are extracted as payment by Russian companies. Hybrid warfare in action, explained in great detail. The whole thing provides an intimate insight into the Wagner system, how it functioned before its abolition or restructuring. The focus sometimes heavily revolves around political machinations - especially in Africa. More on Ukraine and the military deployment of PMC Wagner as the twilight of the company would have been interesting.

"The Mercenaries of the Kremlin: Wagner and Russia's New Secret Armies" by Lou Osborn and Dimitri Zuffery, C.H. Beck Verag, Munich 2024, €26.80