A year after the death of the leader of the mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, it is still not entirely clear what happened to his mercenary empire across Ukraine, Syria and parts of Africa.
The BBC in Russian spoke to ex-combatants and others close to the Wagner group about what happened after the short-lived uprising against Moscow and Prigozhin's sudden death in a plane crash.
In September 2023, a stocky blue-eyed young man stood at the check-in desk of Istanbul International Airport.
Wearing a keffiyeh - a traditional Arab scarf - and a hood, he tried to reach Libya and then another African country in search of a new job.
He was a fighter of the secretive but branched mercenary group Vagner, which he founded and led Yevgeny Prigozhin.
- How Russia rebranded the Wagner mercenary group in Africa
- From Russia with love: Why Wagner 'succeeds' in Africa
- What is the Russian mercenary group Wagner
The group controlled companies and projects worth billions of dollars, operated in Syria, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Libya, and its fighters were instrumental in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The British Ministry of Defense estimated that there were up to 50.000 Wagner mercenaries in Ukraine.
But nearly 20.000 of them, many ex-prisoners, died fighting to capture the city of Bahmut, according to a list obtained by the BBC in Russian.
Prigozhin withdrew the remaining fighters in May 2023, blaming the Russian Ministry of Defense, with open insults, for the shortage of ammunition.
The man with the keffiyeh, however, managed to get away without a scratch.
The following month, he received a message on Telegram inviting him to join the "March for Justice".
He was one of Wagner's fighters who shocked the world by rebelling against Russian President Vladimir Putin, capturing the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The last time he saw Prigozhin was when the leader got into a car, posed for selfies and left town.
The initial threats of the Wagner group to march on Moscow were withdrawn.
An agreement was reached, according to which Putin announced that Wagner's fighters could either join the Russian army or go to Belarus with Prigozhin.
It was the point at which, says the man with the keffiyeh, he first believed that his career at Wagner was over.
"When they started reaching agreements and when there was indecision, while some went to Belarus and others to some other place, I decided that it was the end for me," he says.
Then, two months later, on August 23, 2023, a private plane carrying Prigozhin crashed north of Moscow, and he was killed along with several other Wagner members.
The Kremlin dismissed rumors of a set-up, but many - including this ex-fighter - were not convinced.
"When they killed Gazda [Prigozhin], there was nothing left for me in Russia," he says.
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
As he weighed different options, Wagner's assets and operations around the world came increasingly under the control of the Russian government and military.
The man with the keffiyeh had a valid passport, some savings and experience in warfare.
He decided to travel to Syria, where he had already fought in the past.
Two sources told the BBC in Russian that mercenaries in Syria were offered contracts with the Russian military.
The choice was either the Ministry of Defense or to disappear, said the ex-fighter cursing.
He did not want to sign the contract and was unemployed for almost two months, but he still received his salary - in cash.
Nobody objected when he decided to look for a job in Africa.
Around the same time, Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Yunu-Bek Yevkurov went to North Africa.
Accompanied by senior officials of the Russian GRU military intelligence service, he visited the countries where Wagner had previously been active - Libya, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Mali, and then, on a later trip, Niger.
According to a report by the British expert group the Royal United Services Institute, he said that "former commitments undertaken by Wagner will be fulfilled," but that business will now be conducted "directly with the Russian Ministry of Defense."
The report states that some former Wagner forces in Africa are now offering military support to regimes, including fighting Islamists and other insurgents, in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have experienced military coups in recent years - and are severing long-standing ties with France, while at the same time getting closer to Russia.
Meanwhile, according to the report, Russia is interested in minerals such as lithium, gold and uranium.
Recruitment calls for the Russian Ministry of Defense's "Africa Corps" began appearing in late 2023.
The man with the keffiyeh told us later that he had reached the African country he had chosen.
He added that he saw mercenary work as any other and simply thought that his prospects were better in Africa than in Ukraine or Belarus.
Most of his former colleagues were taken over by the Russian Ministry of Defense and continued to serve in newly formed units, he said.
However, a source once associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin suggested in comments to the BBC that his son Pavel retained some degree of influence.
"Moscow has given the heir the green light to continue his father's work in Africa, provided it does not conflict with Russian interests," this source said.
At first it was speculated that Pavel, who is in his late twenties, runs the small private military company Wagner, under the auspices of the National Guard, Rosgvardi - not the Ministry of Defence.
A report by the Royal Institute said this resulted in "a competition to take over the command between the GRU and Rosgvardija."
The British Ministry of Defense announced in February that three of Wagner's assault squads had indeed been incorporated into the Russian Guard and that they would most likely be deployed to Ukraine and Africa.
But there is no official information on Pavel's role and he did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.
There is not much official information about what happened to Wagner's fighters and who is now recruiting them, although the group's official Telegram channel continues to post recruitment ads for missions in unspecified "far-flung" locations.
For Russia, pursuing its international goals through the Wagner group allowed it to circumvent sanctions and retain the option of denying participation.
Look at how the Wagner rebellion turned out in Russia
Meanwhile, some of Wagner's former fighters remain suspicious of or opposed to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Therefore, there is some attraction for both parties regarding re-employment routes that are indirect or not fully transparent.
After the invasion of Ukraine, Russian military intelligence built a network of mercenary groups based on Wagner and collectively labeled the Redoubt.
A media investigation by Radio Free Europe last October identified more than 20 units recruiting new soldiers under the name Redut.
She concluded that Redut is a "bogus private military company" run by the Russian military intelligence service GRU.
The BBC was unable to find Redoubt on the official company register, and several sources have told us it is linked to the GRU and the Ministry of Defence.
Neither Redut nor the Kremlin responded to the BBC's questions on this topic.
The BBC spoke to former Wagner fighters who joined a unit called Medvedi or the 81st Special Operations Brigade.
According to a freely available public intelligence researcher and West African security specialist known as Nomad Sahelijen, they are "closely tied" to Redoubt, and although they are "considered a special operations brigade", they are more like a "private military company".
- What will happen to the Wagner network in the world
- What will happen to Mali now: The country that entrusted its security to the Russian Wagner
- Coup in Niger: "I want France to leave and Russia to come"
- Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso
In August 2023, pages on the Russian military-friendly social network VKontakte featured numerous recruitment ads for the Bears.
"We need pilots, technicians and mechanics for AN-2 biplanes, MI-8 helicopters and MI-24 attack helicopters," reads one typical such announcement.
"Decent compensation starting at 220.000 rubles (about 2.160 euros) per month along with benefits. Contract for six months. Age from 22 to 50 years. Come to Crimea, to Simferopol. We provide clothing and training."
Although ads tell recruits to head to Crimea, Nomad Sahelien says the group has also set up headquarters in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and offers mercenaries three-month missions with monthly salaries ranging from US$2.500 to US$4.000.
Based on interviews with Wagner's former fighters, the BBC concluded that many decided to stay in Africa, including in Burkina Faso.
Another possible destination for former Wagner fighters is Chechnya, a southern Russian republic.
In April, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said 3.000 of them would join the Akhmat special forces group in the republic, according to Russia's state-run Tass news agency.
A prominent figure from Wagner, Aleksandar Kuznetsov, also known by the code name "Ratibor", appeared on the video next to Kadyrov, saying to his former comrades: "Everything will be like in Wagner, identical. There will be no paperwork. The way we do business will remain the same, nothing changes."
The BBC was unable to confirm how many of the 3.000 arrived.
As for the initial offer for Wagner's mercenaries to head to Belarus, there are now fewer than 100 there, and they are being trained by President Alexander Lukashenko's forces, according to Belarus Hayun, a publicly available data research project that monitors military activity in the country.
On July 28, the presence of former Wagner fighters in Mali hit the news, with reports of Russian mercenaries and Malian soldiers being ambushed by Tuareg separatist forces and Islamist fighters.
Wagner's official Telegram channel published a rare detailed statement, in which they stated that some of their fighters, including the commander, had been killed, but did not give any figures.
Russian Telegram channels close to the military reported the death of several dozen former Wagner fighters, the largest loss of life for this group in Africa.
The mercenaries were part of the Africa Corps, but neither it nor the Russian Ministry of Defense made any official announcement.
The man with the keffiyeh has not responded to our messages since then.
Meanwhile, a picture of a lit candle in memory of the victim appeared on his mother's social media account.
Follow us on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, YouTubei Viber. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
