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☆ Russia's Wagner army is recruiting fighters on Pornhub in a desperate attempt to strengthen troops, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Wagner Group has struggled to recruit more fighters to support Russia in the Ukraine war. "Don't whack off, go work for PMC Wagner," an advert on Pornhub said, according to the report. "Don't whack off, apply for a job with the Wagner Group." The advert also includes a phone number, which is reportedly linked with Wagner Group recruiters. A Ukrainian military intelligence report, published in December and first obtained by CNN, said that Wagner Group fighters, which include prisoners, "have become the disposable infantry" in Ukraine.

☆ Saudi money is pouring into Hollywood and media, 5 years after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Here's who's cashing in and how.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Claire Atkinson | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Sovereign funds and other entities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are pouring millions into US media and entertainment. Saudi Arabia is trying to pitch itself to the world as a cultural and economic reformer and spur tourism. Even those media players that are comfortable with invetment from the Middle East may not find funds flowing, one Hollywood veteran said. A major live WWE event in Saudi Arabia is slated for May. Of the growing ties between US entertainment and media and Middle East investors, this person added, "Presumably media organizations got into this to help society make better decisions."

☆ A tilt towards value and quality stocks will be better in the long run: Envestnet's Dana D'Auria
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailA tilt towards value and quality stocks will be better in the long run: Envestnet's Dana D'AuriaDana D'Auria, Envestnet PMC co-CIO, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss how investors treat the stock and bond markets, whether investors should accept risks, and more.

☆ Russian law amendments punish 'discrediting' military, including voluntary formations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Igor RussakSummary This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. MOSCOW, March 1 (Reuters) - Russia brought new law amendments to parliament on Wednesday that further strengthen the country's censorship laws, envisaging up to 15 years in jail for discrediting the armed forces and voluntary military organisations such as the Wagner Group. "As well as public actions aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, volunteer formations, organizations and persons who are facilitated in the implementation of tasks assigned to the ... Armed Forces," would be punishable, Volodin wrote on the Telegram messaging platform. "This initiative will protect everyone who today is risking their lives to ensures the security of the country and our citizens ... ($1 = 75.1 roubles)Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Prigozhin says Wagner is now receiving ammunition for Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force, said on Thursday that his troops had begun receiving additional supplies of ammunition after a public row with Russia's top army brass. "Today at 6 am, it was announced that the shipment of ammunition has started," Prigozhin said in a statement on Telegram. A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has assumed an more public role since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago, with his Wagner Group spearheading Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region. In recent days, a long-standing feud with Russia's military bosses escalated dramatically, with Prigozhin claiming that officials were denying Wagner ammunition out of personal animus to him. "We must get rid of - I want to emphasise this - any interdepartmental contradictions, formalities, grudges, misunderstandings, and other nonsense," Putin told the political and military elite.

☆ Wagner's Prigozhin accuses Russian top brass of 'treason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner group, on Tuesday accused the Russian defence minister and the chief of the general staff of depriving his fighters of munitions and trying to destroy Wagner - actions he said were equivalent to treason. "There is simply direct opposition going on," Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on his Telegram channel. "The chief of the general staff and the defence minister are giving orders right and left not just not to give Wagner PMC ammunition, but not to help it with air transport," Prigozhin said. Prigozhin has for months criticised senior commanders for what he has called their incompetence. Prigozhin has said that the defence ministry is trying to take credit for Wagner successes around the Donetsk region town of Bakhmut.

☆ Chechen leader says he wants to 'compete' with Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and create his own private military
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said the Wagner Group was showing "impressive results" in Ukraine. In a Telegram post, Kadyrov said he wants to compete with the group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Kadyrov added he plans on starting his own private military company, similar to Wagner. "It seems that the private military company managed to achieve very impressive results." "When my service to the state is completed, I seriously plan to compete with our dear brother Yevgeny Prigozhin and create a private military company.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: World leaders convene in Munich; Zelenskyy rules out conceding territory for peace
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

As many as 60,000 Russian forces, including both the formal military and private contractors, may have been killed in the year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Britain's Ministry of Defense. "Russian Ministry of Defence and private military contractor (PMC) forces have likely suffered 175-200,000 casualties since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. This likely includes approximately 40-60,000 killed," the ministry wrote in its daily intelligence update on Twitter. "By modern standards, these figures represent a high ratio of personnel killed compared to those wounded. This is almost certainly due to extremely rudimentary medical provision across much of the force."

☆ Mercenary leader Prigozhin says Russia faces resistance in taking Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Prigozhin, an entrepreneur and restaurateur, has attracted attention as fighting raged in this campaign. "Bakhmut is needed so our troops can operate comfortably," Prigozhin said. Ukrainian troops are well trained ... and like any large city it is impossible to capture it from head-on. Military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the situation around Bakhmut probably remained the most difficult sector faced by Ukraine's forces as Russia deploys more and more conscripts. "The area south of Bakhmut is a very difficult sector," Zhdanov said in an online interview.

Ukrainian troops are well trained ... and like any large city it is impossible to capture it from head-on. Prigozhin refrained from further attacks on Russia's military leadership, looking straight into the camera to stress he was not criticising anyone. The United States assesses that Wagner currently has about 50,000 personnel deployed to Ukraine, including 10,000 contractors and 40,000 convicts recruited from Russian prisons. Prigozhin denied that and asked Washington to "clarify" what crime Wagner was accused of. Prigozhin said on Friday that Wagner had stopped recruiting prisoners.

☆ Russia's Wagner mercenaries halt prisoner recruitment campaign - Prigozhin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Visitors gather outside PMC Wagner Centre, which is a project implemented by the businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block in Saint Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Igor Russak/File PhotoMOSCOW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia's Wagner mercenary group has stopped recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, Wagner's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Thursday. "The recruitment of prisoners by the Wagner private military company has completely stopped," Prigozhin said in a response to a request for comment from a Russian media outlet published on social media. The Wagner Group has in recent months played an increasingly prominent role in Russia's war in Ukraine, with the mercenary force spearheading a months-long assault on the Donetsk region town of Bakhmut. Previously secretive, Wagner and its founder Prigozhin have assumed an ever more public profile against the backdrop of the fighting in Ukraine, with Prigozhin criticising Russia's military leadership and certain officials.

☆ Russian state energy giant Gazprom is starting its own private security force, a move Ukraine fears will lead to a new Wagner-like mercenary army
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's government is allowing energy giant Gazprom to start a private security outfit. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence drew comparisons with the notorious private army the Wagner Group. Experts said it's plausible that another Russian mercenary army is in the works. Russia's government gave its go-ahead for the energy giant to create a private security organization on February 4, under the pretext of securing the country's energy sector. "Ukrainians are handling Wagner, they are handling the Russian army."

☆ Wagner Group Designated by U.S. as Transnational Criminal Group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Mengqi Sun | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

The U.S. took action Thursday against Russian private military group Wagner Group, designating it as a significant transnational criminal organization over its actions in combat operations in Ukraine on behalf of President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. Treasury Department said Wagner Group personnel also are involved in alleged ongoing criminal activity, including mass executions, rape and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali. Thursday’s sanctions come after the White House said last Friday it would designate the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization. The Wagner Group has already been sanctioned by Canada, Australia, Japan, the U.K. and the European Union. Representatives for Wagner Group didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Satellite images hint at scale of Russian mercenary group's losses in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Aina J. Khan | Aina Is A Freelance Reporter With Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The number of graves at a cemetery used by Russia's notorious mercenary Wagner Group has dramatically grown over the last two months, satellite images show. Satellite images show an increase in graves at a cemetery in Bakinskaya, Russia, from Nov. 24, 2022, to Jan. 24, 2023. The Wagner Group previously provided assistance to the Russian military during conflicts in Syria and Libya. The U.S. government said last week that it will designate Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and impose further sanctions against the organization and its support network. The Wagner Group did not comment on the satellite images and video footage.

☆ Russia's Wagner chief writes to White House over new U.S. sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 21 (Reuters) - The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner published on Saturday a short letter to the White House asking what crime his company was accused of, after Washington announced new sanctions on the group. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that Wagner, which has been supporting Russian forces in their invasion of Ukraine and claiming credit for battlefield advances, would be designated a significant Transnational Criminal Organization. Kirby called Wagner "a criminal organization that is committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses". Last month, the White House said Wagner had taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster Russian forces in Ukraine. Washington had already imposed curbs on trade with Wagner in 2017 and again in December in an attempt to restrict its access to weaponry.

REUTERS/Igor Russak/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The United States will impose additional sanctions next week against Russian private military company the Wagner Group, which U.S. officials say has been helping Russia's military in the Ukraine war, the White House said on Friday. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. Treasury Department will designate Wagner as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization. Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin last month denied taking delivery of arms from North Korea and characterized the report as "gossip and speculation." Kirby said Russian President Vladimir Putin has been increasingly turning to Wagner for military support, causing some tensions in Moscow. "Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries."

Companies Apple Inc FollowJan 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday affirmed a decision to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for allegedly infringing a patent related to digital rights management. PMC, a patent licensing company, first sued Apple for infringing several patents in 2015. He said PMC's patent was unenforceable because the company had used a "deliberate strategy of delay" in applying for the patent, representing a "conscious and egregious misuse of the statutory patent system." The Federal Circuit affirmed Gilstrap in a 2-1 ruling, finding that PMC's "inequitable scheme to extend its patent rights" had prejudiced Apple. Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington Editing by David Bario and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's Wagner boss heralds Bakhmut area advances, warns victory still distant
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - The founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Thursday that his forces had taken the village of Klishchiivka, on the edge of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but said that Ukrainian forces could not be forced from Bakhmut swiftly. Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 400 people, is located around 6 miles (9 kilometres) from the city of Bakhmut, where Wagner units have been locked have been locked in a months-long battle of attrition with Ukrainian forces. However, Prigozhin warned that Wagner would be unlikely to oust Ukrainian forces from Bakhmut soon: "Contrary to various opinions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fleeing from Artemovsk [the Russian name for Bakhmut], this is not so. The Ukrainian army is working clearly and harmoniously. Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy FaulconbridgeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Wagner mercenaries claim capture of village outside Bakhmut; Russia suspects U.S. citizen of espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The head of the Wagner Group, a private military company fighting alongside regular Russian units in Ukraine, has claimed his forces have taken full control of Klishchiivka, a village just south of Bakhmut, a prime target for the Russian military. The enemy clings to every meter of the earth." Prigozhin contradicted reports that Ukrainian forces were fleeing Bakhmut (known as Artemovsk in Russia) saying, "contrary to various opinions that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fleeing from Artemovsk, this is not so. But in any case, the units of PMC "Wagner" are moving forward meter by meter. The settlement of Artemovsk will be taken."

☆ Victory claims over small Ukrainian town expose rift among Russian forces
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Leila Sackur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A rare Russian claim of military victory in eastern Ukraine has laid bare a bitter rift between Moscow's military chiefs and the head of a private mercenary group that has been fighting in the region. Two days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, announced that troops from his irregular private army had seized control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar, Russia's Defense Ministry announced victory in a statement Friday that made no mention of the mercenaries. The lack of praise for his group's role in what would be Russia’s largest battlefield success in months drew a sharp response from Prigozhin. The millionaire former restaurateur and ally of President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in Soledar on Wednesday, and the Wagner Group posted a photo that appeared to show Prigozhin with fighters in one of the town's salt mines. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his late-night video address that the battle “continues.”

☆ Russia's top military brass and an infamous mercenary leader are feuding over who gets credit for taking back a Ukrainian town
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Russian army and mercenary organization Wagner Group have both claimed credit for taking a Ukrainian town. Russia has relied on Wagner mercenaries to augment its fighting force as thousands of troops have died in the war. Infamous mercenary organization Wagner Group is feuding with the Russian military over who should get the praise for seizing control of Soledar, a town in eastern Ukraine. Reuters reported that a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military denies that Soledar has fallen to Russian forces. If confirmed, the seizure of Soledar would be Russia's biggest advancement in the war since July, according to Reuters.

☆ Analysis: Russian mercenary boss courts Putin with Ukrainian battlefield success
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Now as the founder of Russia's most powerful mercenary group, he is vying for Vladimir Putin's favour by claiming a rare battlefield win in Ukraine. Russia claimed victory on Friday after Ukraine said its forces were holding on after a 'hot' night of fighting. The defence ministry on Friday attributed victory to its airborne units, missile forces and "artillery of a grouping of Russian forces". Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the state-controlled RT channel and close to the Kremlin, thanked Prigozhin for Soledar. Despite its sometimes publicly strained ties with the Russian defence ministry, some Western military analysts suspect Wagner is closely affiliated with it.

REUTERS/Igor RussakWASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled new curbs on technology exports to Russia's Wagner military group, in a bid to further choke off supplies to the contractor over its role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Wagner group, which was added to a trade blacklist in 2017 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, will now be labeled a military end user and face tough new curbs on access to technology made anywhere in the world with U.S. equipment. “The Wagner Group is one of the most notorious mercenary organizations in the world and is actively committing atrocities and human rights abuses across Ukraine,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez. The Wagner group, a private military contractor with close ties to the Kremlin, was founded in 2014 after Russia seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and sparked a separatist insurgency in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CNN —The body of Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda, a fighter recruited by the mercenary group Wagner for combat operations in Ukraine, was returned to Zambia on Sunday. The body was received by Nyirenda’s family and foreign ministry officials, the ministry stated in a series of tweets Sunday. A relative of Lemekani Nyirenda, who died in the conflict in Ukraine in September, is consoled as his coffin arrives at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka on Sunday. A hearse carrying the remains of Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda at Lusaka's Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. Salim Dawood/AFP/Getty ImagesFlorence Nyirenda, Lemekani Nyirenda's mother, is comforted by family members at the airport in Lusaka, on December 11.

☆ Putin ally says he sent EU Parliament a stained sledgehammer after it branded Russia a state sponsor of terrorism
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The European Parliament declared Russia a "state sponsor of terrorism" on Wednesday. Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin responded by saying that he had sent the EU a sledgehammer. "I do not know what law the European Parliament is guided by, but according to our legislation, from today we declare the European Parliament dissolved." It continued: "But before this procedure enters into legal force, I was instructed to submit an information case to the European Parliament." It is unclear whether the EU Parliament received the sledgehammer.

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