Denis Korotkov

Ilya Barabanov

"A book of astonishing detail and depth, by the best reporters on the subject. For those interested in the rise and fall of Wagner, this is a fascinating, necessary work of journalism and history". JOSHUA YAFFA, Correspondent for The New Yorker
The name Wagner stands for a infamous private military company that serves the interests of Russian officials while exploiting and hurting locals in numerous African countries, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere. The troopers call themselves musicians, but this orchestra would be impossible without a skilled conductor: Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a convicted criminal who managed to enter Vladimir Putin's inner circle, became a billionaire through corruption, and later went rogue, attempting a military coup against the Kremlin. The private military was just one part of his empire, capable of things such as serving dinners to European politicians and meddling inthe US elections.
This book is written by two journalists who were the first to report on the existence of the Wagner Group and then followed their actions for years: Ilya Barabanov and Denis Korotkov. Over time, they collected a trove of exclusive documents, spoke with dozens of sources inside the PMC, uncovered numerous crimes committed by Wagner operatives, and received numerous death threats — ultimately forcing the authors to leave Russia. This is the most realand hands-on account of the brightest career imaginable in a mafia-state — a career that ended with a bang.
The original manuscript and this translation are published with the support of the StraightForward Foundation, which promotes truthful accounts about Russia worldwide. We fight Kremlin narratives and Putin's attempts to silence dissent by creating and distributing selected nonfiction books on contemporary affairs.

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