Whither Wagner? The Consequences of Prigozhin’s Mutiny and Demise

Abstract

AbstractThe mutiny and death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner Group paramilitary outfit, has created great uncertainty about how Russia will manage paramilitary organisations going forward. Wagner has played a key role in expanding Russian influence in the Middle East and Africa at relatively low cost, while keeping official casualty counts limited in Ukraine and Syria in particular. The group or some version of it, whether unified or fragmented, will likely continue to operate, probably under stronger control of the Russian Ministry of Defence, but with a continuing role for one or more oligarchs.Key words: AfricaLibyamutinyRussiaSyriaUkraineVladimir PutinWagner GroupYevgeny Prigozhin Notes1 See, for example, Julian E. Barnes et al., ‘Blast Likely Downed Jet and Killed Prigozhin, U.S. Officials Say’, New York Times, 24 August 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/us/politics/plane-crash-prigozhin-explosion.html.2 See Kimberly Marten et al., ‘Potential Russian Uses of Paramilitary Groups in Eurasia’, Center for a New American Security, September 2023.3 See, respectively, ‘Russia’s Prigozhin Admits Links to What U.S. Says Was Election-meddling Troll Farm’, Reuters, 14 February 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-prigozhin-admits-links-what-us-says-was-election-meddling-troll-farm-2023-02-14; and Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, ‘Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election’, vol. 1, US Department of Justice, March 2019, https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download.4 See Elena Cryst, ‘Stoking Conflict by Keystroke’, Stanford Internet Observatory, 15 December 2020, https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/africa-takedown-december-2020; and UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, ‘UK Exposes Sick Russian Troll Factory Plaguing Social Media with Kremlin Propaganda’, 1 May 2022, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-exposes-sick-russian-troll-factory-plaguing-social-media-with-kremlin-propaganda.5 For background analysis, see Kimberly Marten, ‘The GRU, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and Russia’s Wagner Group: Malign Russian Actors and Possible US Responses’, written testimony before the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment, 7 July 2020, https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110854/witnesses/HHRG-116-FA14-Wstate-MartenK-20200707.pdf; Kimberly Marten, ‘Russia’s Use of Semi-state Security Forces: The Case of the Wagner Group’, PostSoviet Affairs, vol. 35, no. 3, May 2019, pp. 181–204; and Kimberly Marten, ‘Russia’s Use of the Wagner Group: Definitions, Strategic Objectives, and Accountability’, written testimony before the US House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security, 15 September 2022, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO06/20220921/115113/HHRG-117-GO06-Wstate-MartenK-20220921.pdf.6 See András Rácz, ‘Band of Brothers: The Wagner Group and the Russian State’, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 21 September 2020, https://www.csis.org/blogs/post-soviet-post/band-brothers-wagner-group-and-russian-state.7 See Brian Katz et al., ‘Moscow’s Mercenary Wars: The Expansion of Russian Private Military Companies’, Center for Strategic and International Studies, September 2020, https://russianpmcs.csis.org/.8 See President of Russia, ‘Meeting with Defence Ministry Personnel’, 27 June 2023, http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/71535.9 See ‘Prigozhin’s Criminal Past, Straight from the Source’, Meduza, 29 June 2021, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/06/29/prigozhin-s-criminal-past-straight-from-the-source.10 See Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy, Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2013), p. 163.11 See ‘News Wrap: Putin Says Prigozhin Was a Talented Person Who “Made Serious Mistakes in Life”’, PBS, 24 August 2023, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/news-wrap-putin-says-prigozhin-was-a-talented-person-who-made-serious-mistakes-in-life; and Andrew Osborn, ‘Putin Breaks Silence After Wagner Boss Prigozhin’s Plane Crashes’, Reuters, 24 August 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/investigators-trawl-site-plane-crash-believed-have-killed-wagner-boss-prigozhin-2023-08-24/.12 See Anastasiia Yakoreva and Svetlana Reiter, ‘“Restorator Putina” perestal byt’ lyubimym podryadchikom Minoborny’ [‘Putin’s restaurateur’ stopped being the favorite contractor of the Defence Ministry], Bell, 2 March 2018, https://thebell.io/restorator-putina-perestal-byt-lyubimym-podryadchikom-minoborony/.13 See Ishaan Tharoor, ‘The Battle in Syria that Looms Behind Wagner’s Rebellion’, Washington Post, 30 June 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/30/wagner-syria-russia-battle-united-states/.14 See Kimberly Marten, ‘The Puzzle of Russian Behavior in Deir al-Zour’, War on the Rocks, 5 July 2018, https://warontherocks.com/2018/07/the-puzzle-of-russian-behavior-in-deir-al-zour/.15 See ‘Yevgenii Prigozhin o tragedii 8 fevralia 2018 v Khshame’ [Yevgeny Prigozhin on the tragedy of 8 February 2018 in Khshame], Telegram, 12 June 2023, https://telegra.ph/Evgenij-Prigozhin-o-tragedii-8-fevralya-2018-v-Hshame-06-12.16 For a good overall account, see Joshua Yaffa, ‘The Making of a Mutiny’, New Yorker, 7 August 2023, pp. 28–41.17 See Anastasia Lotareva, ‘Wagner Mutiny: Junior Commander Reveals His Role in the Challenge to Putin’, BBC, 23 July 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66247915.18 The content of Prigozhin’s video, posted on his Telegram channel, is summarised well by James Risen, ‘Prigozhin Told the Truth About Putin’s War in Ukraine’, Intercept, 1 July 2023, https://theintercept.com/2023/07/01/prigozhin-truth-putin-war-ukraine/.19 See Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt, ‘Russian General Knew About Mercenary Chief’s Rebellion Plans, US Officials Say’, New York Times, 27 June 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/us/politics/russian-general-prigozhin-rebellion.html.20 See Paul Sonne, Anatoly Kurmanaev and Julian E. Barnes, ‘Top Russian General Detained After Wagner Mutiny Is Released’, New York Times, 4 September 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/world/europe/general-sergei-surovikin-russia.html.21 See Thomas Grove, ‘Russia Detained Several Senior Military Officers in Wake of Wagner Mutiny’, Wall Street Journal, 13 July 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-detained-several-senior-military-officers-in-wake-of-wagner-mutiny-35a696e4.22 See President of Russia, ‘Address to Citizens of Russia’, 24 June 2023, http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/71496.23 See Andrew Osborn, ‘Prigozhin Mansion: Russian TV Shows Footage to Discredit Wagner Leader After Failed Mutiny’, Reuters, 6 July 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-state-tv-attacks-mutiny-leader-prigozhin-says-investigation-still-live-2023-07-06/.24 ‘Prigozhin Gets Back Ten Billion Rubles ($111m) Cash and More Seized After Mutiny’, Meduza, 4 July 2023, https://meduza.io/en/news/2023/07/04/prigozhin-gets-back-ten-billion-rubles-111m-cash-and-more-seized-after-mutiny.25 See Anastasia Stognei and Max Seddon, ‘Yevgeny Prigozhin’s “Toxic” Media Empire Left in Kremlin Limbo’, Financial Times, 14 July 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/723a967f-213b-45b4-8ca6-792aa8e10ba0.26 See ‘Prigozhin-linked Firms Continue to Sign Hefty State Contracts, Even After Mutiny’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 3 August 2023, https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-prigozhin-companies-hefty-state-contracts/32532538.html.27 See ‘IStories: Wagner Group Still Recruiting Despite Prigozhin’s Claims’, Novaya Gazeta Europe, 2 August 2023, https://novaya-gazeta.eu/articles/2023/08/02/istories-wagner-group-still-recruiting-despite-prigozhins-claims-en-news.28 See, respectively, Isabel van Brugen, ‘Wagner Group Recruiting Exposed in Second NATO Country’, Newsweek, 15 August 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-yevgeny-prighozin-recruitment-nato-latvia-poland-ukraine-war-1819876; and Julia Smirnova and Francesca Visser, ‘Content Glorifying the Wagner Group Circulating on Meta Platforms’, Institute for Strategic Dialogue Digital Dispatches Blog, 16 August 2023, https://www.isdglobal.org/digital_dispatches/content-glorifying-the-wagner-group-circulating-on-meta-platforms/.29 See Zhenya Averbakh, ‘Chto izvestno o liudiakh iz spiska passzhirov Biznes-dzheta Prigozhina’ [What is known about the people on the passenger list of Prigozhin’s business plane], Fontanka, 24 August 2023, https://www.fontanka.ru/2023/08/24/72630062/; and Denis Korotkov, ‘Nemnogo biznesa v siriiskoi voine’ [Some business in the Syrian war ], Fontanka, 26 June 2017, https://www.fontanka.ru/2017/06/26/084/.30 See ‘Thousands of Wagner Mercenaries in Belarus, Says Monitoring Group’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 24 July 2023, https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-wagner-mercenaries-thousands-belaruski-hajun-russia/32517237.html.31 ‘Wagner Troops in Belarus “Want to Go West” into Poland, Lukashenka Quips During Meeting with Putin’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 23 July 2023, https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-lukashenka-wager-poland/32515408.html.32 See Valerie Hopkins, ‘Belarus Says Some Wagner Fighters Are Training Its Forces’, New York Times, 14 July 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/world/europe/wagner-belarus-russia.html.33 See ‘UK Defence Ministry: Kremlin May No Longer Fund Wagner Group’, Reuters, 13 August 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-defence-ministry-kremlin-may-no-longer-fund-wagner-group-2023-08-13/; and ‘Lukashenko Explains What PMC Wagner Fighters Are Doing in Belarus’, Belta, 1 August 2023, https://eng.belta.by/president/view/lukashenko-explains-what-pmc-wagner-fighters-are-doing-in-belarus-160657-2023/#. I am grateful to Sarah Cahlan for the latter citation.34 See Megan Specia, ‘Ukraine Says It Is Ready for Arrival of Wagner Troops in Belarus’, New York Times, 1 July 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/world/europe/russiaukraine-war.html.35 See ‘Old Habits’, Meduza, 11 July 2023, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/07/11/old-habits.36 See Candace Rondeaux, ‘Inquiry into the Murder of Hamdi Bouta and Wagner Group Operations at the Al-Shaer Gas Plant, Homs, Syria 2017’, New America, 5 June 2020, https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/inquiry-murder-hamdi-bouta/.37 See Amy Mackinnon, ‘Putin’s Shadow Warriors Stake Claim to Syria’s Oil’, Foreign Policy, 17 May 2021, https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/17/putin-shadow-warriors-stake-claimsyria-oil-energy-wagner-prigozhinlibya-middle-east/.38 See Tal Beeri, ‘Syria: Russia–Syria Power Struggle Over the Natural Gas, Oil Fields and Infrastructure’, Alma Research and Education Center, 28 June 2022, https://israel-alma. org/2022/06/28/syria-russia-syriapower-struggle-over-the-naturalgas-oil-fields-and-infrastructure/; and Nikita Sogoloff, ‘Russia’s Energy Goals in Syria’, Fikra Forum, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 30 August 2017, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/russias-energy-goals-syria.39 See Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Maya Gebeily, ‘Syria Brought Wagner Fighters to Heel as Mutiny Unfolded in Russia’, Reuters, 7 July 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/syriabrought-wagner-group-fighters-heelmutiny-unfolded-russia-2023-07-07/.40 See ‘Pekhota pushche nevoli’ [The infantry more than the capture], Novaya Gazeta, 10 August 2022, https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/08/10/pekhota-pushche-nevoli.41 See ‘Bez ‘Shchita’ [Without a shield], Novaya Gazeta, 28 July 2019.42 See Karen Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014).43 See ‘Gennady Timchenko’, Bloomberg Billionaires Index, https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gennady-n-timchenko/.44 See ‘It’s Not Just Wagner’, Meduza, 16 May 2023, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/05/16/it-s-not-just-wagner.45 See ‘A Mercenaries’ War’, Meduza, 14 July 2022, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/07/14/a-mercenaries-war.46 See Kimberly Marten, ‘Russia’s Back in Africa: Is the Cold War Returning?’, Washington Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 4, Winter 2019, pp. 155–70; and Paul Stronski, ‘Late to the Party: Russia’s Return to Africa’, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 16 October 2019, https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/16/late-to-party-russia-s-return-to-africa-pub-80056.47 See United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘CAR: Russian Wagner Group Harassing and Intimidating Civilians – UN Experts’, 27 October 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/11/car-russian-wagner-group-harassing-and-intimidating-civilians-un-experts; United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Libya: Violations Related to Mercenary Activities Must Be Investigated – UN Experts’, 17 June 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2020/06/libya-violations-related-mercenary-activities-must-be-investigated-un-experts; and ‘Moura: Over 500 Killed by Malian Troops, Foreign Military Personnel in 2022 Operation’, United Nations News, 12 May 2023, https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136607.48 See Tom O’Connor, ‘US Says Russia’s Wagner Group Helped Push U.N. Forces Out of Mali’, Newsweek, 30 June 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/us-says-russias-wagner-group-helped-push-un-forces-out-mali-1810225.49 See Nima Elbagir et al., ‘Exclusive: Evidence Emerges of Russia’s Wagner Arming Militia Leader Battling Sudan’s Army’, CNN, 21 April 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/africa/wagner-sudan-russia-libya-intl/index.html.50 See ‘Architects of Terror: The Wagner Group’s Blueprint for State Capture in the Central African Republic’, Sentry, June 2023, https://thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ArchitectsTerror-TheSentry-June2023.pdf; US Department of the Treasury, ‘Treasury Sanctions Illicit Gold Companies Funding Wagner Forces and Wagner Group Facilitator’, 27 June 2023, https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1581; and Declan Walsh, ‘“From Russia with Love”: A Putin Ally Mines Gold and Plays Favorites in Sudan’, New York Times, 5 June 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/world/africa/wagner-russia-sudan-gold-putin.html.51 See ‘Burkina Faso Denies It Paid Russian Fighters with Mine Rights’, Reuters, 21 December 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/burkina-faso-denies-it-paid-russian-fighters-with-mine-rights-2022-12-20/; Benoit Faucon, ‘US Intelligence Points to Wagner Plot Against Key Western Ally in Africa’, Wall Street Journal, 23 February 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-intelligence-points-to-wagner-plot-against-key-western-ally-in-africa-29867547; and Elian Peltier, ‘A Leader of Niger’s Coup Visits Mali, Raising Fears of a Wagner Alliance’, New York Times, 2 August 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/world/africa/niger-coup-mali-wagner.html.52 See Wassim Nasr, ‘How the Wagner Group Is Aggravating the Jihadi Threat in the Sahel’, Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point, CTC Sentinel, vol. 15, no. 11, November/December 2022, pp. 21–30, https://ctc.westpoint.edu/how-the-wagner-group-is-aggravating-the-jihadi-threat-in-the-sahel/.53 See Judicael Yongo, ‘Central African Republic Says Wagner Troop Movement Is Rotation not Departure’, Reuters, 8 July 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/central-african-republic-says-wagner-troop-movement-is-rotation-not-departure-2023-07-08/.54 See Judicael Yongo, ‘Wagner Troops Arrive in Central African Republic Ahead of Referendum’, Reuters, 17 July 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/wagner-troops-arrive-central-african-republic-ahead-referendum-2023-07-17/.55 Quoted in Elian Peltier and Raja Abdulrahim, ‘Can Russia Tame Wagner in Africa Without Destroying It?’, New York Times, 29 June 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/world/africa/central-african-republic-wagner-africa-syria.html.56 See ‘Russian Army Officials Visit Libya After Haftar Invite’, Moscow Times, 22 August 2023, https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/22/russian-army-officials-visit-libya-after-haftar-invite-a82219.57 See Abdulkader Assad, ‘Report: Haftar Owes Russian Wagner Group $150 Million as Rift Grows Over Rookie Fighters’, Libya Observer, 14 May 2020, https://libyaobserver.ly/news/report-haftar-owes-russian-wagner-group-150-million-rift-grows-over-rookie-fighters.58 See Kimberly Marten, ‘Why the Wagner Group Cannot Be Easily Absorbed by the Russian Military – and What that Means for the West’, Russia Matters, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center, 1 September 2023, https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/why-wagner-group-cannot-be-easily-absorbed-russian-military-and-what-means-west.59 See ‘Vedomosti: Lawmakers Mull Bill on Protecting Journalists in Conflict Zones’, TASS, 2 August 2018, https://tass.com/pressreview/1015770.60 See Liana Faizova, ‘Kudrin, Povar, ChVK Vagnera, Zhenit’ba: Chto Vaszhnogo i Strannogo Skazal Putin Na PressKonferentsii’ [Kudrin, the chef, the Wagner PMC, marriage: what important and strange things Putin said at the press conference], Bell, 20 December 2018, https://thebell.io/kudrin-povar-chvk-vagnera-zhenitba-chtovazhnogo-i-strannogo-skazal-putin-na-press-konferentsii/.61 See Candace Rondeaux and Ben Dalton, ‘Putin’s Stealth Mobilization: Russian Irregulars and the Wagner Group’s Shadow Command Structure’, New America, 22 February 2023, https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/reports/putin-mobilization-wagner-group/.62 See Edith M. Lederer, ‘Russia, China Block Release of UN Report Criticizing Russia’, AP News, 25 September 2020, https://apnews.com/article/383b41a57355670312265c05672153e5; and ‘Russia Blocks Work of UN Committees Monitoring Sanctions on African Countries’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 30 September 2021, https://www.rferl.org/a/ruusia-blocking-un-africa/31485308.html.63 See Molly Dunigan, Victory for Hire: Private Security Companies’ Impact on Military Effectiveness (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011).64 See Eleanor Beardsley, ‘An Ex-member of One of the World’s Most Dangerous Mercenary Groups Has Gone Public’, NPR, 6 June 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1102603897/wagner-group-mercenary-russia-ukraine-war; and ‘Latest in Ukraine: Wagner Chief Says 20,000 of His Forces Killed in Bakhmut Fighting’, VOA News, 24 May 2023, https://www.voanews.com/a/latest-in-ukraine-epicenter-of-fighting-in-bakhmut-marinka/7106699.html.65 See Anton Troianovski et al., ‘After Prigozhin’s Death, a High-stakes Scramble for His Empire’, New York Times, 8 September 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/world/europe/prigozhin-wagner-russia-africa.html.66 See Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt, ‘Kremlin Considers How to Bring Private Military Group Under Its Control’, New York Times, 16 August 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/26/us/politics/prigozhin-wagner-russia-military.html.67 See Max Seddon et al., ‘Wagner’s Lucrative African Operations Thrown into Post-Prigozhin Limbo’, Financial Times, 25 August 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/0476123a-b726-413b-9c70-0ba1e480fa0f.68 See Simon Marks and Stephanie Baker, ‘What Wagner’s Mutiny Means for Its Sprawling Business Empire’, Bloomberg, 27 June 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-wagner-presence-in-central-african-republic/; Frank Matt et al., ‘Who Will Control Wagner’s Empire of War and Gold?’, Wall Street Journal, 24 July 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-will-control-wagners-empire-of-war-and-gold-22444d60; and Kevin Rothrock, ‘What He Leaves Behind’, Meduza, 27 June 2023, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/06/28/what-he-leaves-behind.69 See Lauren Kent, Pierre Bairin and Uliana Pavlova, ‘What We Know About Andrey Troshev, the Man Putin Proposed as the New Wagner Boss’, CNN, 14 July 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/14/europe/russia-andrey-troshev-wagner-intl/index.html.70 See Ivan Nechepurenko, ‘Wagner Troops Can Keep Fighting, but Without Prigozhin, Putin Says’, New York Times, 14 July 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/world/europe/putin-wagner-prigozhin-ukraine.html.71 See Isabel van Brugen, ‘Wagner Group Fires One of Its Five Leaders – a Former Russian Army Colonel’, Newsweek, 3 July 2023, https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-prigozhin-mutiny-shoigu-fires-leader-andrey-troshev-1810462.72 See ‘“Armed to the Teeth”: Who Runs – and Who Funds – a New Private Military Company in Annexed Crimea?’, Meduza, 25 March 2023, https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/03/26/armed-to-the-teeth; and Marlene Laruelle and Richard Arnold, ‘Russia’s Paramilitarization and Its Consequences’, PONARS Policy Memo 839, 3 April 2023, https://www.ponarseurasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Pepm839_Arnold-Laruelle_April2023-2.pdf.73 See Matthew Luxmoore and Benoit Faucon, ‘Russian Private Military Companies Move to Take Over Wagner Fighters’, Wall Street Journal, 5 September 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russian-private-military-companies-move-to-take-over-wagner-fighters-a568f938.74 See Sergei Titov, ‘How Konstantin Malofeyev, Russia’s “Orthodox Oligarch”, Finances His Support of Moscow’s War in Ukraine’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 24 June 2023, https://www.rferl.org/a/malofeyev-russia-oligarch-finances-war-ukraine/32474096.html.75 See Mathieu Olivier, ‘CAR–Russia: Who Is Vitali Perfilev, Wagner’s Boss in Bangui?’, Africa Report, 7 April 2022, https://www.theafricareport.com/191669/car-russia-who-is-vitali-perfilev-wagners-boss-in-bangui/.76 See Åse Gilje Østensen and Tor Bukkvoll, ‘Russian Use of Private Military and Security Companies – the Implications for European and Norwegian Security’, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), 11 September 2018, https://open.cmi.no/cmi-xmlui/handle/11250/2564170.77 See, respectively, Christopher Miller and Max Seddon, ‘“Stream” and “Torch”: The Gazprom-backed Militias Fighting in Ukraine’, Financial Times, 2 June 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/4dd0aa0a-4b37-4082-8db0-0b969c539677; Polina Ivanova, ‘Russia’s Latest Space Agency Mission: Raising a Militia for the War in Ukraine’, Financial Times, 16 June 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/c194cb2d-3aa0-4195-9be5-e78c1d2fd183; and Joshua Askew, ‘“TikTok Warriors”: What Are Chechen Fighters Doing in Ukraine?’, Euronews, 20 January 2023 (updated 15 May 2023), https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/20/mad-dogs-what-are-chechen-fighters-doing-in-ukraine.78 See Sean McFate, Mercenaries and War: Understanding Private Armies Today (Washington DC: National Defense University Press, 2019).79 See Sean McFate, The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).Additional informationNotes on contributorsKimberly MartenKimberly Marten is professor of political science at Barnard College and Columbia University.