--- title: Russian Mercenaries in Ukraine Terrorized Libya description: Russia is using the same Wagner Group of mercenaries that terrorized Libya and Syria. That's bad news for Ukraine canonical: https://time.com/6167556/russias-wagner-group-ukraine/ author: Frederic Wehrey article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-04-18T15:08:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:54.801Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Putin Is Deploying Mercenaries in Ukraine That Terrorized Libyans og:description: Russia is using the same Wagner Group of mercenaries that terrorized Libya and Syria. That's bad news for Ukraine og:url: https://time.com/6167556/russias-wagner-group-ukraine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00ebc5d037a8123f/698a30ff096a943aac6ac73a/GettyImages-1239811520.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Putin Is Deploying Mercenaries in Ukraine That Terrorized Libyans twitter:description: Russia is using the same Wagner Group of mercenaries that terrorized Libya and Syria. That's bad news for Ukraine twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt00ebc5d037a8123f/698a30ff096a943aac6ac73a/GettyImages-1239811520.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Putin Is Deploying Mercenaries in Ukraine That Terrorized Libyans ## Video: Ukraine: A Glossary of Terms [Watch (HLS stream): Ukraine: A Glossary of Terms](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OM8MLV7Y.m3u8) (5:41)  _Published 2022-03-15. When it comes to learning about the conflict in Ukraine, there are a lot of terms that get thrown around. Here are a few you should know._ by [Frederic Wehrey](https://time.com/author/frederic-wehrey/) ## Frederic Wehrey Frederic Wehrey is a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Apr 18, 2022 3:08 PM UTC  Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, Donbas region, on April 7, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine. Smoke rises over the town of Rubizhne, Donbas region, on April 7, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.Fadel Senna—AFP/Getty Images by [Frederic Wehrey](https://time.com/author/frederic-wehrey/) ## Frederic Wehrey Frederic Wehrey is a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Apr 18, 2022 3:08 PM UTC The last time Russian forces tried to topple an internationally recognized government it was in a country far from Eastern Europe and on a far smaller scale than today’s war in Ukraine. But what I saw in Libya was no less terrifying for civilians and similarly corrosive to national sovereignty—a testing ground, of sorts, for the conflict now raging in Ukraine. That includes the use of mercenaries, which U.S. officials say President Vladimir Putin is resorting to as regular Russian forces falter, the death toll among Russian troops rises, and atrocities take center stage. In the fall of 2019, I [was reporting](https://time.com/5779348/war-libya-global-conflict/) from Tripoli as roughly one thousand fighters from the so-called Wagner Group—a private military company that essentially functions as Putin’s secret arm—and some regular Russian military personnel joined the militia forces of a Libyan warlord in an [effort](https://time.com/5779348/war-libya-global-conflict/) to oust the sitting government. In Libya, the Wagner fighters made a difference. While certainly sub-par by Western military standards, they nonetheless undermined the morale of government forces with relentless firepower and lethal precision, especially in the form of well-aimed sniper shots, with high-caliber**,** anti-materiel rifles. One commander on the government side told me that thirty percent of the deaths in his unit were due to Russian snipers. And during a Wagner mortar barrage, I [witnessed](https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/09/09/view-from-libya-pub-82521) fear and panic in the ranks that I’d not observed in previous conflicts in Libya, including the months-long [battle against the Islamic State](https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-grinding-fight-to-root-out-isis-in-a-battered-libya). But Libyan civilians bore the brunt of the Wagner onslaught. [Entire families](https://time.com/5779348/war-libya-global-conflict/) had died in the dust-strewn ruins of homes obliterated by Russian shelling. Months later, [mines and booby-traps](https://www.voanews.com/a/middle-east%5Frussian-mercenaries-libya-leave-mines-deadly-calling-cards-observers-say/6193913.html) emplaced by Wagner fighters would kill dozens more. All of this prompted little pushback in Western capitals. Worse, two U.S. allies, [France and the United Arab Emirates](https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/21/libyan-civil-war-france-uae-khalifa-haftar/), abetted the Russian-led attack on Tripoli with diplomatic and military support. And while the invasion failed to overthrow the Libyan government, its aftermath left Russian military forces firmly [entrenched](https://warontherocks.com/2021/01/the-pendulum-how-russia-sways-its-way-to-more-influence-in-libya/) in airbases and oil facilities in southern and eastern Libya. In Ukraine, Russia appears to be repeating its Libya playbook. After failing to decapitate the Ukrainian government and seize the entire country, Moscow has pivoted to shearing off swaths of territory and [freezing](https://warontherocks.com/2021/01/the-pendulum-how-russia-sways-its-way-to-more-influence-in-libya/) Ukraine’s conflict into a stalemate that stymies Kiev’s economic and democratic progress and its integration with the West. And in late March, Pentagon and Western intelligence services [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/russian-mercenaries-ukraine-wagner-group.html) that up to a thousand Wagner fighters, hardened by battle in Libya and an even bloodier intervention in Syria, are redeploying to Ukraine. There, Wagner will find a foe that is far more competent and better equipped than Libya’s militias and one that has already shattered the morale of Russian conventional forces. But by throwing more manpower into the Ukraine war, along with air defense systems and artillery, these mercenaries could still undermine the prospects for a durable peace and sow the seeds for future conflict. Specifically, by [shoring up](https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Feurope%2Fbritish-intelligence-says-russias-wagner-group-deployed-eastern-ukraine-2022-03-28%2F&data=04%7C01%7CKatelynn.Vogt%40ceip.org%7C91174dab0b874c6fc1e308da118b9c1b%7C2f1b2c902dab43fdbb45e43dd6e09cc6%7C0%7C0%7C637841588598180305%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=cWqZK92Dq3KiuEQlRDKjps5Yy9ca719Rctig7ocvPpQ%3D&reserved=0) pro-Russian forces in the separatist territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in southeastern Ukraine, they could help wrest enough land from Ukrainian government control to create a new reality on the ground that gives Putin newfound leverage. But to the extent they violate the rules of war—targeting civilians, or committing abuses like those uncovered on the outskirts of Kyiv, where [reports say](https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/possible-evidence-of-russian-atrocities-german-intelligence-intercepts-radio-traffic-discussing-the-murder-of-civilians-in-bucha-a-0a191c96-634f-4d07-8c5c-c4a772315b0d) Wagner operated—Putin’s mercenaries will intensify an already atrocity-ridden campaign, and make it more likely that rank-and-file Russian soldiers will act with more brutality. But they are also likely to stiffen Western resolve in Ukraine. What the Wagner Group did in Libya without drawing much of an outcry—along with its even more destructive campaign in [Syria](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/world/middleeast/syria-ukraine-invasion-russia.html) and its murderous meddling in [Africa](https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/10/16/late-to-party-russia-s-return-to-africa-pub-80056), [epitomized by a reported massacre in late March of hundreds of civilians in Mali](https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/05/mali-massacre-army-foreign-soldiers#:~:text=%28Nairobi%29%20%E2%80%93%20Malian%20armed%20forces,Human%20Rights%20Watch%20said%20today.) by Wagner and Malian government forces—will not go unnoticed in Eastern Europe. Putin’s adventures in the Middle East and Africa constituted his bid to expand Russian global influence, whittle away the U.S.-led international order, and nudge the world toward greater multipolarity—all while reaping economic spoils. They were successful in part because they happened in regions of the world that were deemed less important to Western policy interests and that, in the view of some Western elites and media outlets, were long [accustomed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/10/prince-william-backlash-war-comments/) to proxy wars and bloodshed and were “[less civilized](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/civilised-european-look-like-us-racist-coverage-ukraine)” than Europe. His attack on Ukraine has thankfully produced an admirable commitment to action by the U.S. and its European allies, including sanctions on Russia and the provision of military and humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people. But the contrast between this degree of Western mobilization toward Ukraine—evident most starkly in Europe’s welcoming of Ukrainian refugees—and the West’s previous indolence toward Russian abuses of non-Europeans is morally bankrupt. It underscores the need, at the very least, for a more inclusive notion of interdependent human security, between the countries of the Global South and the Global North. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6167556/russias-wagner-group-ukraine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6167556/russias-wagner-group-ukraine/"},"headline":"Putin Is Deploying Mercenaries in Ukraine That Terrorized Libyans","datePublished":"2022-04-18T15:08:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:54.801Z","description":"Russia is using the same Wagner Group of mercenaries that terrorized Libya and Syria. 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