What is the Wagner Group? Russian mercenaries on secret mission to kill Ukraine President Zelenskyy

(Credits: Reuters)

New Delhi: As many as three senior Western security sources believe that Russian mercenaries with ties to Moscow`s spies have increased their presence in Ukraine in recent weeks. This development has stoked fears among some NATO members that Russia could try to engineer a pretext for an invasion.

The sources said that their concerns had strengthened in recent weeks that a Russian incursion into Ukraine could be preceded by an information war and cyber attacks. Russia could also use the mercenaries to sow discord and paralyse Ukraine through targeted assassinations and the use of specialised weaponry, the security experts believe. 

According to a Daily Mail report, more than 400 specially trained Russian mercenaries have been flown in from Africa to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

What is the Wagner Group? 

Founded in early 2014, the Wagner Group is a private military and security company believed to be used by the Kremlin to carry out its strategic objectives. As per the reports, the Wagner Group allegedly has orders from Vladimir Putin to take out Zelensky - and 23 other government figures - to allow Moscow to take over its eastern European neighbour. 

The group has as many as 6,000 mercenaries as per a Bloomberg report published in 2017. 

The army-for-hire, run by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin - a close ally of the Russian President who is often dubbed ‘Putin’s chef` - was flown in five weeks ago and is being offered a huge sum for the mission.

The highly-trained operatives are said to be waiting for the green light from the Kremlin to pounce, with their hit list also including Ukraine`s Prime Minister, the entire cabinet, mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir - both boxing champions who have become iconic figures on the front lines of the capital.

The group is said to be tracking Zelesnky and his colleagues via their mobile phones - claiming to know where they are at all times, Daily Mail reported. Another source claimed the killers-for-hire have been told to put on the brakes while Putin holds `peace talks` with Zelensky this week.

But they have allegedly been informed that the Russian leader has no desire to reach a deal, branding the meeting on the Belarus border as `smoke and mirrors`, the report said.

Wagner group neither represent the Russian state nor are paid by it: Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Wagner and other private groups neither represent the Russian state nor are paid by it, though he says they have a right to operate provided they do not break Russian law.

Russia denies its plans to annex another part of Ukraine and Putin says the West is sowing hysteria in a crude attempt to lure Russia into war after ignoring the Kremlin`s concerns about NATO enlargement after the Cold War.

Russia could stage ‘false flag’ operation inside Ukraine: US

The United States warned again on Sunday that Russia could stage a "false flag" operation inside Ukraine to justify an invasion.    

"It is likely that Russian mercenaries, under the direction of the Russian state, will be involved in any hostilities in Ukraine, potentially including a pretext for an invasion," said one Western security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Western security sources said mercenaries were deploying from Russian private military companies (PMCs) with close ties to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, and the GRU military intelligence agency.

The sources also told Reuters that some operatives of the Wagner mercenary group have been embedded on the Ukrainian border after training at a GRU base near the southern Russian city of Krasnodar.

US expresses fear over latest developments 

The United States has expressed fears that Russia could use mercenaries, special operations forces and other grey-zone warfare techniques to delegitimize Kyiv ahead of invasion, several U.S. officials told Reuters. 

The Pentagon referred Reuters to remarks by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby who said earlier this month that Russia was seeking to fabricate a pretext for an invasion.

Meanwhile, the European Union imposed sanctions on Wagner last year, accusing it of fuelling violence, looting natural resources and destabilising countries around the world.    

(With some agency inputs)