France, Feb. 13 -- The report, The Business of Despair, by the investigative collective All Eyes On Wagner, documents recruitment networks operating across Africa and Russia.

Founded in 2014, Wagner is a Russian state-funded private military company that conducts covert military operations outside Russia.

With the war in Ukraine entering its fifth year and recruitment from prisons largely exhausted, Russia has increasingly turned to foreign nationals to sustain its military effort. Families seeking answers

The investigation lists 1,417 fighters from 35 African countries, who enlisted between 2023 and mid-2025. Some joined voluntarily because of the salaries offered, while others were deceived by false job offers or pressured into signi...