Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and vocal proponent of the invasion of Ukraine, praised the mercenary Wagner Group on Sunday and said he wants to create his own private military force.
The Wagner Group was founded in 2014 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, another close associate of the Russian president who has been referred to as “Putin’s chef” because his restaurants and catering companies have scored countless government contracts.
Before deploying in Ukraine at the outset of Putin’s invasion last year, the Wagner Group was active across the Middle East, Africa, and even Venezuela.
In this file photo taken Wednesday, April 19, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Chechnya’s regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
“We can say confidently that Wagner has shown its mettle in military terms and drawn a line under discussions about whether or not…
