Mercenary activity in the former Eastern Bloc was a consequence of the difficult economic situation and reductions in the armed forces after the collapse of the USSR.
The most numerous among all were groups of military adventurers from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Serbia.
French mercenary Bob Denard highly appreciated the activities of natives of the post-Soviet republics in the role of military adventurers.
However, according to the mercenary, they had disadvantages — poor knowledge of foreign languages and the lack of special offices that would send trained groups to Africa.
The Wagner Group, recognized alternatively as PMC Wagner or the Africa Corps in Africa, is a Russian paramilitary entity often referred to as a Private military company(PMC), a Mercenary network, and an unofficial unit associated with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU.