The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force said in an interview published on Sunday that he had ambitions to turn his private military company into an "army with an ideology" that would fight for justice in Russia.
"After the capture of Artyomovsk [Bakhmut], we will begin to reboot," Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a clip posted on Telegram. "In particular, we will start recruiting new people from the regions."
"The Wagner private military group must turn from just a private, the best, army in the world which is capable of defending the state, into an army with an ideology. And that ideology is the struggle for justice."