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The "Wagner Group" is a coalition of private military contractors linked to Russian oligarch Yvgeney Prigozhin and led by former GRU special forces commander Dmitry Utkin. The group has close ties to neo-Nazism and was named after Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, Richard Wagner. Utkin has also been photographed with SS officer lapel pins tattooed on his collarbones, and the group's "Task Force Rusich" unit has openly glorified Nazism.
It appears that the Wagner Group has deployed in Ukraine, based on social media posts by accounts linked to the group and its past activity in eastern Ukraine. The group recently put out a coded call for volunteers on one of their Telegram channels, using an image of Richard Wagner and employing the language of a "concert tour" to describe its ongoing campaign in Ukraine.
The following report details the Wagner Group's recruitment call on Telegram.
Wagner Group Issues Recruitment Call On Telegram
On Telegram, a channel affiliated with the Wagner Group posted a recruitment call on March 22, 2022, presumably for volunteers to fight in Ukraine. The post featured an image of composer Richard Wagner reading: "W FOR WAGNER." The channel wrote: "The Wagner Group continues its concert program: Are you waiting for a call for volunteers or for training camps to be announced? Be smart, take the first step yourself! With us – more victories and greater rewards! Russia is waiting for you! Sign up for an audition." The message included two Russian contact phone numbers which are registered to cellphones in Moscow.
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