Russian efforts to hire mercenaries to aid its invasion of Ukraine are a sign of “desperation”, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said.
The Kremlin has enlisted the Russian paramilitary firm Wagner Group, which has close links to Vladimir Putin and whose fighters-for-hire have been accused of torture, rape and extrajudicial killings.
The company’s contractors have reportedly fought in many conflicts – including alongside Bashar al-Assad’s forces in the Syrian civil war, as well as in eastern Ukraine in aiding separatist groups in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Mr Wallace told MPs on Wednesday that Russia bringing the Wagner Group into Ukraine was a sign of “desperation”.
Mr Putin has already put more than 90 per cent of his troops into action, according to the Ministy of Defence.
Forces controlled by his Belarusian ally Alexander Lukashenko are also reportedly “deserting” and senior officers have been “refusing to join the fight,” he added.
Mr Wallace went on to say: “Also I think there’s something very telling about Russia’s desperation at the moment.
“We’ve seen significant amounts of effort to try and bring Wagner Group into Ukraine.
“Wagner Group being the wholly unacceptable mercenary company responsible for all sorts of atrocities in Africa and the Middle East.
“And the fact that Russia is now trying to encourage them to take part in Ukraine, I think, is a telling sign. It doesn’t give us any comfort, but it is, nevertheless, a sign.”
Mr Putin reportedly sent hundreds of the Wagner Group’s fighters to Ukraine last week with orders to assassinate Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Wagner Group, a network of smaller groups, was founded by Dmitry Utkin – a former Russian soldier who is reported to have Nazi tattoos on his chest.
In December 2016, Utkin was photographed standing close to Putin at an event hosted at the Kremlin.
Wagner Group is thought to be funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman who is also alleged to run the Internet Research Agency – a “troll farm” engaged in the posting of pro-Russia comments online.
Mr Prigozhin is one of the many oligarchs to have recently been sanctioned by the West after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
