London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Russian mercenary force Wagner opens first official headquarters

Russian mercenary force Wagner opens first official headquarters

The European Union has accused the Wagner Group of serious human rights abuses in Ukraine, Africa, Syria, and Libya.

Russia’s previously secretive Wagner Group, a private mercenary force, has opened its first official headquarters in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.

The group, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, opened its shiny, glass-fronted multistorey building – topped with a large white “Wagner” sign – on Friday.

The opening of the “Wagner Centre” is seen as another step by Prigozhin to publicise his military credentials and take a more public role in shaping Russia’s defence policy.

Wagner’s public-facing headquarters follows recent steps by Prigozhin to bolster his public profile, compared with the years when the Russian businessman spent operating his military force in the shadows.

Prigozhin has made a series of outspoken interventions about Russia’s setbacks in its war in Ukraine, joining Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in ridiculing the performance of Moscow’s generals.

He had long denied being behind Wagner, whose contract soldiers are supporting Russia’s army in Ukraine and have operated in Africa, Syria, and Libya.

Prigozhin last month publicly confirmed for the first time that he was the founder of Wagner.

The European Union has accused the Wagner Group, whose members are mostly former service personnel, of human rights abuses and said they have carried out clandestine operations on Moscow’s behalf. The United States and EU have sanctioned Prigozhin over his role in the group.

In 2021, the EU said the Wagner Group was responsible for abuses, including torture and extrajudicial killings, in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique.




“The mission of the PMC Wagner Center is to provide a comfortable environment for generating new ideas to improve Russia’s defence capability,” Prigozhin said in a statement for Friday’s launch.

There were no signs at the opening of Prigozhin himself, who is sometimes dubbed “Putin’s Chef” for his sprawling catering businesses that have swept up government contracts.

The opening of the large steel and glass office building was attended on Friday by a mix of veterans in military uniforms and young tech and cultural professionals, with lectures from nationalist and pro-Kremlin figures saying the Wagner headquarters would help “make our great country even better”.

An interior view of the PMC Wagner Centre, a project implemented by 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


People in camouflage clothing wandered the grey corridors of the building looking at an exhibit on military drones. A truck emblazoned with the “Z” symbol used by Russian forces in Ukraine, was parked outside.

“We are inviting start-ups involved in IT, industrial technology and those developing new ideas which they are ready to apply in the field of national defence,” said Anastasia Vasilevskaya, press secretary for the centre.

“We are of course interested in projects that can act as import substitution,” she said.

Western sanctions on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine have made it harder for Russia to buy foreign weapons technology.

“The creation of such a centre was a long time coming. The only thing is that it appeared really late,” said Wagner volunteer Alexey Savinsky, clad in military camouflage.

“This centre had to be opened a year before the special military operation. So, it’s two years behind the schedule,” he said, using Russia’s official term for its Ukraine invasion.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
×