SOURCE :
(a) Wagner Group of mercenaries : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60947877
(b) Ukraine crisis: Is Russia staging 'false flag': https://www.bbc.com/news/60470089
(c) False flags: What are they and when have they been used?: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60434579
What is Russia's Wagner Group
of mercenaries in Ukraine?
Ukrainian artillery is said to have struck the headquarters of the shadowy Russian mercenary group Wagner, in Luhansk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The Wagner Group went to the region in 2014 to help pro-Russian separatists oust Ukrainian forces.
British military intelligence says 1,000 mercenaries are deployed there.
The group has been active recently in Ukraine, Syria and African countries, and has repeatedly been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.
What is the Wagner Group doing in Ukraine?
In the weeks leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it is thought Wagner Group mercenaries were involved in a number of so-called "false flag" attacks in eastern Ukraine which were designed to give Russia a pretext for attacking.
Wagner first went to the region in 2014, says Tracey German, professor of conflict and security at King's College London.
"About 1,000 of its mercenaries supported the pro-Russian militias fighting for control of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions," she says.
Three Wagner Group mercenaries are alleged by Ukrainian prosecutors to have committed war crimes in the village of Motyzhyn near Kyiv in April, alongside regular Russian troops.
The prosecutors said these war crimes included murder and torture. Two of the Wagner mercenaries named are from Belarus and the other is from Russia.
German intelligence suspects Wagner mercenaries may also have been involved in the killing of civilians in Bucha, during the withdrawal of Russian forces from around Kyiv.
Now, says Dr Samuel Ramani, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, members of the Wagner Group are fighting alongside regular troops in the Donbas region.
"The Wagner Group played an active role in capturing cities like Popasna and Severodonetsk in Luhansk," he says.
"Nowadays, it is an informal, unofficial unit of the Russian army, for which no casualties are reported."
As well as reportedly hitting the Wagner Group base in Poposna in Luhansk, Ukraine's forces also claim to have hit another bases in nearby Stakhanov in June.
How was the Wagner Group started?
A BBC investigation into the Wagner Group highlighted the believed involvement of a 51-year-old former Russian army officer, Dmitri Utkin. He is thought to have founded Wagner and given it its name - his own former call-sign.
He is a veteran of the Chechen wars, a former special forces officer and a lieutenant colonel with the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.
The Wagner Group first went into action during Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, says Prof German.
"Its mercenaries are thought to be some of the 'little green men' who occupied the region," she says.
"Running a mercenary army is against the Russian constitution," she adds. "However, Wagner provides the government with a force which is deniable. Wagner can get involved abroad and the Kremlin can say: 'It has nothing to do with us."
Some suggest Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, secretly funds and oversees the Wagner Group.
Mercenary sources have told the BBC that its training base in Mol'kino in southern Russia is next to a Russian army base.
Russia has consistently denied that Wagner has any connection with the state.
The BBC investigation that identified Utkin's links to the group also highlights the role of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the oligarch known as "Putin's chef" - so-called because he rose from being a restaurateur and caterer for the Kremlin.
Many of Mr Prigozhin's companies are currently under US sanctions for what it calls his "malign political and economic influence around the globe". He has always denied any connection with the Wagner Group.
Where has the Wagner Group been active?
In 2015 the Wagner Group started operating in Syria, fighting alongside pro-government forces and guarding oilfields.
It has been active in Libya since 2016, supporting the forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar. It's thought that up to 1,000 Wagner mercenaries took part in Haftar's advance on the official government in Tripoli in 2019.
In 2017, the Wagner Group was invited into the Central African Republic (CAR) to guard diamond mines. It is also reported to be working in Sudan, protecting gold mines.
In 2020, the US Treasury said Wagner had been "acting as a cover" in these countries for Mr Prighozin's mining companies, such as M Invest and Lobaye Invest - and placed them under sanctions.
More recently, the Wagner Group was invited in by the government of Mali, in West Africa, to provide security against Islamic militant groups. Its arrival in 2021 influenced the decision by France to pull its troops out of the country.
Dr Ramani says that outside Ukraine, Wagner Group has about 5,000 mercenaries in total operating across the world.
He says that since the start of the war in Ukraine, the Wagner Group has become much more public.
"It is openly recruiting in Russian cities, on billboards, and is being named in Russian media as a patriotic organization.
[ https://youtu.be/yFb8uOZ8pfw ]
Russian Mercenaries: Inside the Wagner Group
What crimes is Wagner alleged to have committed outside Ukraine?
The United Nations and the French government have accused Wagner mercenaries of committing rapes and robberies against civilians in the Central African Republic, and the EU has imposed sanctions as a result.
In 2020, the United States military accused Wagner mercenaries of having planted landmines and other improvised explosive devices in and around the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
"Wagner Group's reckless use of landmines and booby traps are harming innocent civilians," said Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, director of intelligence at the US Army's Africa Command.
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