Everyone is talking about Wagner. But who are Russia's other mercenaries?

The Russian Wagner mercenary group often steals the limelight, thanks largely to its outspoken and publicity-crazed boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

But there are others. 

Many of Russia's rich and powerful own private military companies (PMC), with more coming out of the woodwork all the time. They recruit an eclectic mix of ex-special forces, prisoners, extremists, vagrants, adrenaline junkies and everything in between, operating all around the world. 

Elites have "realised that having a PMC can get the benefits from the Kremlin," Anton Shekhovtsov, Director of the Centre for Democratic Integrity told Euronews. "Because if you contribute to the war effort [in Ukraine], you will be rewarded." 

Putin-loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov, who leads the Chechen Republic, is reportedly planning to create a PMC on top of his paramilitary of "TikTok warriors" notorious for filming themselves purportedly fighting in Ukraine, though doubts remain about how genuine this is. 

Energy giant Gazprom has also allegedly created two private militaries, known as Fakel (torch) and Plamya (flame), which are tasked with protecting overseas assets in places like Syria and Ukraine. 

“They are supposedly just defending pipelines, although we simply don't know," said Dr Stephen Hall, lecturer of Russian politics at the University of Bath.

Yet, PMCs don't only belong to Russia's elites. 

The Orthodox Brotherhood mercenary group, linked to the powerful Orthodox Church, is reportedly fighting in Ukraine to protect Christain Russia from a decadent West that has hijacked Kyiv, Hall told Euronews. 

ENOT meanwhile is a collection of far-right, ultra-nationalist guns for hire, battling in Ukraine since 2014, when Russian-backed separatists took up arms in Ukraine'e east. 

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