This is the Inside story of Russia’s Wagner Group. It gives readers a unique insight into the Russian war in Ukraine and tells the incredible story of the most famous and dangerous mercenary group in history from the unique perspective of one of its leaders.

Igor Salikov is a former Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer and was one of the founders of the Wagner Group which he helped train, before commanding this legendary band of mercenary soldiers.

Igor describes in detail the illegal actions that his group of mercenaries undertook on behalf of Putin in Syria and Ukraine, before the Wagner Group turned on Putin and marched on Moscow.

The ‘Wagner’ mercenary group remained comparatively unknown for years, and only after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, did the general public learn about the existence of this shadowy organization. But for years before that, they roamed free in Africa and the Middle East, fighting Russia’s conflicts, protecting dictators and waging war against anyone who was declared to be the enemy of the Russian government.

Many journalists have attempted to uncover Wagner’s secrets but, for the first time, we hear the voice of an actual Wagner commander, who participated in some of the organization’s operations. This is Igor Salikov, former Wagner commander and the most high-ranking Russian service member who testified against the Russian regime and its crimes in Ukraine for the International Criminal Court in Hague. Igor was not just a soldier, but a high-ranking commander, which gave him a unique insight into the organization, structure, political goals and operational procedures of Wagner.

The author witnessed the birth of the group and their first operations in Syria, including the first major battle between US forces and Russians since the end of the Cold War. Later, Wagner infiltrated into other countries and was one of main assets of Russian armed forces in the war against Ukraine. In 2022, after the failure of the initial invasion of Ukraine, Wagner’s leader received an order to recruit directly from prisons, and convicted rapists, murderers and cannibals joined what once was a small and elite mercenary unit.

In 2023, Wagner mercenaries attempted to organize a coup against Vladimir Putin but turned back at the last moment. Soon after, the leaders of the group were killed in an aircraft crash, and Wagner disappeared from the spotlight. This book allows us to look at this group through the eyes of someone who has been there, done that, and witnessed the entire history of the Wagner organization, from its origins to its ignominious end.

This book was written after the leaders of Wagner were killed and Assad escaped from Syria, therefore bringing the whole story of the group up to date.

IGOR SALIKOV is a former Soviet and Russian military officer and the founder of the ‘Redut-Antiterror’ Private Security Company that operated in Iraq . Over the last forty years, he participated in countless armed conflicts in Africa, South East Asia, Latin America and the Greater Middle East. He also served as the instructor in Wagner Group in Syria, and personally saw the rise of this PMC from the very beginning. In the spring of 2023, he left Russia and went to the International Criminal Court in Hague to testify about the crimes of the Russian government committed during wars in Ukraine and Syria.

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“Our book tells the story of the most famous and most dangerous mercenary group in history through the eyes of one of Wagner’s instructors and one other specialist who worked in various Western PMCs. The book is written by people who know the system from the inside, and have first-hand experience with private armies.

“Prigozhin’s army (which was essentially Putin’s special forces) was once indeed one of the most dangerous forces in the world. Not because their training or skills were superior, but because the Wagner leadership was not constrained by any laws, or financial or moral limitations.

“In this book we are talking about facts and events that were never brought to public attention before. Few people know the entire story of Wagner and how it came to be. Who were its founders? Is Wagner similar to the American PMC ‘Blackwater’? The PMCs in Russia were created by people who are still pretty much unknown to the public, even in Russia, and we will bring their stories to light for the first time. So, let’s start from the beginning.”

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