‘Still Wagner at heart’ Investigative journalists identify former mercenary commanders now fighting in a new ‘legion’ under the Russian Defense Ministry
The investigative outlet Agentstvo has identified a number of former Wagner Group commanders who signed military contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry and are now part of Wagner Legion Istra — a battalion established about a year ago.
The Wagner Legion recruits fighters through the military enlistment office in Istra, a town in the Moscow region, and with the help of local authorities. In March 2024, Istra Mayor Tatyana Vitusheva reported that more than a thousand “Wagnerites” had joined the group.
Agentstvo managed to identify the former Wagner mercenaries after they appeared in a 40-minute interview with 360, a government television channel covering the Moscow region. Only one of them used his real name in the interview — the former commander of the Wagner Group’s 1st Assault Detachment, Alexander Kuznetsov (call sign, “Ratibor”). Four others used their call signs or positions within the Wagner Group or the Legion.
Russia officially disbanded the Wagner Group after its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in August 2023 — exactly two months after he led a short-lived rebellion against the country’s military brass. In the interview with 360, Kuznetsov said that Prigozhin’s death “was a shock.”
“When our leader disappeared, we had no desire to work under anyone else’s leadership, because no one could’ve formed this unique structure the way Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin did,” he said, referring to a prominent Wagner Group commander also killed in the plane crash.
According to Kuznetsov, many Wagner Group fighters “started to leave, transfer, [or] sign contracts with the Defense Ministry” after Prigozhin and Utkin died. These mercenaries, he claimed, mainly joined airborne and infantry units, and continued “to carry out combat missions.” Another former Wagner commander, who used the call sign “Marx,” told 360 that “around 53,000 people or so” passed through the mercenary group.
Agentstvo identified “Marx” as Igor Sukhodolsky, a 55-year-old from Saratov who joined the Wagner Group shortly after its founding in 2013–2014, and went on to become its chief of staff. Sukhodolsky was awarded the Order of Courage for his involvement in the battle of Bakhmut and he also claims to have received state decorations for other operations in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Ukraine.
Agentstvo identified the three other mercenaries in the interview as Ruslan Chlalyan, Andrey Ivanov, and Ruslan Zaprudsky.
Chlalyan, call sign “Radimir,” is a 47-year-old from Sochi and the former deputy commander of the Wagner Group’s 1st Assault Detachment. According to the Myrotvorets database, Chlalyan took part in Wagner operations in Sudan in 2019 and received a 4th class Order For Merit to the Fatherland for his participation in the battle of Bakhmut.
Ivanov, call sign “Kep,” is a 41-year-old from Krasnodar Krai and the former commander of the Wagner Group’s 2nd Assault Detachment. Ivanov told 360 he joined the mercenary cartel in 2014 as a machine gunner, and later received state awards — including the title Hero of Russia — for fighting in Syria, Libya, the CAR, and Mali. He is currently under U.S. sanctions for acting as a mediator in the Wagner Group’s negotiations with the Malian authorities over arms supplies and mineral extraction.
Zaprudsky, call sign “Rusich,” is a 43-year-old from Azov (a town in Russia’s Rostov region) and the former commander of the Wagner Group’s 13th Assault Detachment. From March 2016 to December 2022, he was registered as an entrepreneur. According to the Myrotvorets database, he received a 4th class Order For Merit to the Fatherland after fighting for Wagner in Bakhmut and was also awarded the Order of Courage.
The 360 interview revealed that “Radimir” oversees the Wagner Legion’s operations in Libya, while “Kep” oversees operations in Mali and “Rusich” commands a detachment in Ukraine. “Istra is one of [those] unique places that gave our guys who were in the Wagner PMC the opportunity to sign a contract with their Motherland, with the Defense Ministry,” Kuznetsov said in the interview. “They’re all still Wagner at heart. And now they’re all going in different directions: some to the Africa Corps, others to the SVO.”
“Guys who know [Rusich], Radimir, and Kep are already flocking and ready [to join up], because they know them as combatant commanders, competent ones, […] and have confidence in them,” he added.
Agentstvo described the interview with the former mercenaries as “highly unusual” and deemed it a PR stunt. Pro-Kremlin war bloggers have also begun to promote the Wagner Legion, with Alexander Kots sharing a recruitment ad with his 590,000 Telegram subscribers and Alexander Sladkov pushing the 360 interview to his 888,000 followers.
