When Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, rebelled against the then Russian Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, on June 23, 2023, Vladimir Putin had already decided to disband Russia's most popular mercenary group due to the threat it posed to the regime's stability. Despite having been key in the conquest of towns like Bakhmut or Soledar, in Donetsk, the failure of the mutiny led private fighters to integrate into the regular army or return home. Some agreed to enlist in the armed forces, others sought a way to continue fighting in Ukraine while maintaining a certain autonomy, and many preferred to travel to Africa, where Wagner had become strong by defending local putschists and where it still struggles today to preserve the remnants of its empire.