+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Former Wagner fighters are having to find new careers. One started a 'Wagner Taxi' company using the group's logo.

Sep 15, 2023, 20:56 IST
Business Insider
A man wearing a camouflage uniform walks out of PMC Wagner Center in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on November 4, 2022.Igor Russak/Reuters
  • Former Wagner Group soldiers are being forced to seek out new employment, per Russian reports.
  • After Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane crashed, many of them were told to seek new jobs, Russian media said.
Advertisement

Former fighters in the Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group are being forced to turn to new careers after the implosion of their group, including one who has started a taxi company named after his former employer, according to reports.

Valery Bogdanov, a resident of Bolotnoye in Russia's southern Novosibirsk region, has even printed business cards using the Wagner Group's emblem of a grinning skull against a set of wings, Russian outlet VN.ru reported.

Bogdanov was reported by the outlet to have left Ukraine in May, which is when a large concentration of Wagner troops pulled out of the Donetsk city of Bakhmut — although it is not clear exactly where he fought.

According to the Daily Beast, Bogdanov has five convictions for robbery and theft.

VN.ru reported that his taxi business has one car, but he plans to expand.

Advertisement

In chat groups, former Wagner soldiers are complaining that they're being turned away from jobs at factories and defense outfits, and being forced into driving taxis or courier work, the Beast reported.

Many troops from the notoriously vicious mercenary group have been left at a loose end following the presumed death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to Russian independent outlet Important Stories.

Both Prigozhin and the rumored co-founder of the Wagner Group, Dmitry Utkin, were on the passenger list of the flight that plunged catastrophically to earth on August 23, 2023.

According to Important Stories, at the end of August unnamed remaining representatives of the group told fighters to find new careers because the Russian army proper would not take them back to fight in Ukraine.

They were not being allowed to fight in the war against Ukraine due to "well-known circumstances," the representative said, according to The Daily Beast's translation.

Advertisement

In June, Prigozhin led a failed rebellion against President Vladimir Putin, going into exile soon after.

The representative told fighters to either wait "or search for other ways to make money," according to the report.

The representative also said the group had been forced to look for more opportunities in Africa and the Middle East, Important Stories reported.

In the Central African Republic — visited by Prigozhin just days before his plane crashed — Wagner troops are continuing to fight but are being slowly replaced by local soldiers, Middle East Eye reported, citing anonymous sources opposed to the country's government.

Prigozhin's trip there had seen him meet with the republic's president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, with Prigozhin trying to persuade Touadera, in the face of new moves from the Kremlin, that his soldiers could still fight on Touadera's behalf, the outlet reported.

Advertisement
You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article