Slaughter for Hire: The Wagner Group’s Global Legacy of Violence

In The New York Review of Books, journalist Joshua Hammer exposes the chilling trajectory of the Wagner Group — a shadow army whose rise and fall mirrors Russia’s evolving use of mercenary warfare to project power, exploit resources, and instill fear from Africa to Ukraine. His piece, “Slaughter for Hire,” traces the group’s operations across continents and the violent legacy of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former restaurateur turned warlord whose death in 2023 marked the symbolic collapse of his empire.

Hammer recounts firsthand testimony from a contact in Timbuktu, Mali, who described the terror unleashed by Russian mercenaries—extortion, arson, and executions—forcing thousands to flee to Mauritania. Once welcomed by Mali’s regime to replace departing UN peacekeepers, these fighters now operate as the Africa Corps, under direct control of Russia’s Defense Ministry. Yet their tactics and brutality remain unchanged, a continuation of Wagner’s unchecked reign.

From its beginnings in 2017, Wagner entrenched itself in nations such as Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic—backing dictators, suppressing opposition, and bartering violence for access to gold mines and oil fields. The group also gained global infamy for its ferocity in Ukraine, from the Donbas to Bakhmut, where Prigozhin’s men—often recruited from prisons—became synonymous with bloodshed.

Prigozhin’s audacious rebellion against Moscow in 2023 briefly exposed the fractures within Vladimir Putin’s war machine. His sudden death in a plane explosion later that year, widely viewed as retribution, closed a dark chapter of state-sanctioned mercenary warfare. Still, as Hammer notes, Wagner’s operations live on in different guises, continuing to shape conflicts where accountability is nonexistent and profit fuels power.

The article reviews three new books that investigate Wagner’s evolution and Prigozhin’s life—from petty criminal to Kremlin proxy to mutineer. Among them is The Wagner Group: Inside Russia’s Mercenary Army by Jack Margolin, which provides an in-depth look at how this network blurred the line between private enterprise and state violence, leaving behind a legacy of chaos and exploitation.

Learn more here: Slaughter for Hire – The New York Review of Books