Recruiters and propagandists who previously worked for Russia’s Wagner Group have become a key channel for Kremlin-directed sabotage operations in Europe, the Financial Times reported.

The paramilitary group’s role has been in flux since the death of its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, but western officials told the FT that Wagner recruiters who specialized in recruiting young Russian men to fight in Ukraine have been directed to recruit individuals willing to carry out violent attacks in Europe. 

Wagner is tasking these “disposable” recruits with activity ranging from arson attacks on politicians’ cars and warehouses to spreading Nazi propaganda on European soil, according to the FT, which noted that the group is focused on sowing chaos in NATO member-states. 

The recruits are typically marginalized individuals who lack personal direction and are willing to commit acts of violence for money, the newspaper said. One European official who spoke with the FT said that Wagner’s propagandists and recruiters already “speak their language.” 

Such arrangements line up with the practice by Russian intelligence agencies to use at least two “cut-out” proxies between themselves and the individuals who do their bidding, giving the Kremlin “some degree of deniability,” the official said in the report. 

Wagner has a strong presence on social media channels aimed at Russians and has been particularly adept at recruiting via Telegram, the newspaper said. 

The report comes amid efforts by a group of U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation that would order the State Department to blacklist Wagner mercenary groups that have rebranded themselves under new names in recent years, including Africa Corps and Redut PMC. Under the measure, such Wagner-linked groups would be added to the department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Read more at the Financial Times