On Wagner’s creation:

“I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion…I am proud that I was able to defend their right to protect the interests of their country.”“Russia's Prigozhin admits link to Wagner mercenaries for first time,” Reuters, September 26, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-prigozhin-admits-link-wagner-mercenaries-first-time-2022-09-26/.