Wagner Group Russian mercenaries took their name from Nazi party links

23 August 2023 , 23:29

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Yevgeny Prigozhin is said to have died in a plane crash (Image: AP)

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, is believed to be dead after a plane he was said to be aboard crashed in Russia - but why are his mercenaries called that?

The plane was seen in a video falling out of the sky in the Bologovsky district in the Tver region. The burning wreckage was seen in a field and reports from Russia's aviation agency Rosaviatsiya said Prigozhin was named on the passenger list.

The mercenary rose to prominence when, in 2014 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was linked to fighters in the Donbas region which became known as Wagner. The group became renowned for its violence, with members accused of killing captives with sledgehammers and killing three Russian journalists, among its crimes.

The wreckage of the plane in Russia (AP)

Ten people are said to have died in the crash (AP)

Prigozhin denied having links to the mercenaries until in September last year he finally revealed it was he who set it up eight years before. The group is said to have been named for the German composer, Richard Wagner, as one of its early commanders was said to have been fascinated by Nazi Germany. The fascists used the composer’s works for propaganda as war loomed in Europe.

Further than that, however, Adolf Hitler is said to have been obsessed with his work, as he saw Wagner as a symbol of German nationalism. His idolism went so far, the evil dictator is said to have taken a stack of Wagner scores with him into the Berlin bunker in 1945. The irony of the Russian mercenaries taking the name is that the Kremlin has claimed its war in Ukraine is being carried out with the aim of “de-Nazifying” the nation.

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Meanwhile, it is understood 10 people, seven passengers and three flight crew, were on-board the flight bound to St Petersburg from Moscow. Just before 7pm GMT, it was reported eight bodies had been recovered from the crash site, but later reports said all 10 had been retrieved. The corpses were described as badly charred.

Prigozhin, 62, had recently been warned that he could become an assassination target after leading a failed coup against the regime two months ago. A channel linked to Wagner said the plane had been shot down by air defences, which could not be independently verified.

Sources close to the Wagner warlord - who is widely known to take extra care in relation to his security - said that while the aircraft belonged to him, he usually flew on another aircraft. Earlier this week a video apparently showed him in Africa vowing to make Russia great by deploying his Wagner troops on the continent.

Antony Clements-Thrower