BERLIN (Tribune News Service) — As Russia suffers one devastating military setback after another in Ukraine, a key player in the conflict is stepping out of the shadows: the private army known as the Wagner Group. “The more dire the situation gets for the regular [Russian] army, the more it will be required to lean on private mercenaries like the Wagner Group,” said Christopher Faulkner, an assistant professor at the U.S. As finger-pointing has intensified over recent battlefield losses in Ukraine’s south and east, the group’s self-declared chieftain, oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, has become increasingly virulent in his criticism of the Russian war effort. “On the one hand, they can use the unit to exert military influence in various places around the world. “We want to know where he is, whether he is alive,” the mother said in a video made by the rights group.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 05, 2022 19:25 UTC