Igor Russak/Reuters
- Former Wagner Group soldiers are being forced to seek out new employment, per Russian reports.
- After Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane crashed, many of them were told to seek new jobs, Russian media said.
- One soldier has started a taxi company named after the notorious mercenary group.
Former fighters in the Russian mercenary outfit the Wagner Group are being forced to turn to new careers after the implosion of their group, including one who has started a taxi company named after his former employer, according to reports.
Valery Bogdanov, a resident of Bolotnoye in Russia's southern Novosibirsk region, has even printed business cards using the Wagner Group's emblem of a grinning skull against a set of wings, Russian outlet VN.ru reported.
Bogdanov was reported by the outlet to have left Ukraine in May, which is when a large concentration of Wagner troops pulled out of the Donetsk city of Bakhmut — although it is not clear exactly where he fought.
According to the Daily Beast, Bogdanov has five convictions for robbery and theft.
VN.ru reported that his taxi business has one car, but he plans to expand.
In chat groups, former Wagner soldiers are complaining that they're being turned away from jobs at factories and defense outfits, and being forced into driving taxis or courier work, the Beast reported.
Many troops from the notoriously vicious mercenary group have been left at a loose end following the presumed death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to Russian independent outlet Important Stories.
Both Prigozhin and the rumored co-founder of the Wagner Group, Dmitry Utkin, were on the passenger list of the flight that plunged catastrophically to earth on August 23, 2023.
According to Important Stories, at the end of August unnamed remaining representatives of the group told fighters to find new careers because the Russian army proper would not take them back to fight in Ukraine.
They were not being allowed to fight in the war against Ukraine due to "well-known circumstances," the representative said, according to The Daily Beast's translation.
In June, Prigozhin led a failed rebellion against President Vladimir Putin, going into exile soon after.
The representative told fighters to either wait "or search for other ways to make money," according to the report.
The representative also said the group had been forced to look for more opportunities in Africa and the Middle East, Important Stories reported.
In the Central African Republic — visited by Prigozhin just days before his plane crashed — Wagner troops are continuing to fight but are being slowly replaced by local soldiers, Middle East Eye reported, citing anonymous sources opposed to the country's government.
Prigozhin's trip there had seen him meet with the republic's president, Faustin-Archange Touadera, with Prigozhin trying to persuade Touadera, in the face of new moves from the Kremlin, that his soldiers could still fight on Touadera's behalf, the outlet reported.