The Wall Street Journal’s latest documentary, “Shadow Men: Inside Russia’s Secret War Company,” goes deep inside the lethal global expansion of the Russian private military company Wagner — tracing the group’s evolution from a small, guns-for-hire operation into a sprawling network of businesses that have been active on four continents. Through interviews with current and former Wagner fighters, government insiders, victims of attacks, and war crimes investigators, the film reveals how the group is hiding the flow of riches and resources through a complex network of front companies that ultimately connect to the Kremlin.
0:00 What is Wagner, and who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?
3:36 How the Wagner Group operates
6:16 Wagner’s origins
10:36 A new business model in Syria
17:24 Wagner’s expansion into Africa
19:59 Wagner’s Africa playbook: guns and gold
27:13 The war in Ukraine, Wagner steps out of the shadows
36:09 Wagner’s future