It is a funeral ritual that very few know. When one of these mercenaries falls in combat, in Syria, Libya or elsewhere in Africa, his body is repatriated to Rostov-on-Don, in the south of Russia. The Wagner group and the nebula of associations and companies controlled by Evgueni Prigozhin, nicknamed the "Poutine cook", take care of everything. The families of the combatants are welcomed in a soulless hotel in the city center. Before taking the remains, in a zinc coffin, the relatives of the deceased recover their decorations and the “Wagner” medallion which will be placed on his grave. Above all, they pocket the five million rubles (63,000 euros approximately) provided for each combatant killed on the ground.
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Officially, these flagless fighters do not exist and their paramilitary group has no legal existence as such. However, in five years, 8,000 men would have joined the ranks of the "private military society" (SMP) Wagner, according to Ilya Barabanov,
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