Exclusive-Wagner mutineers included Russian convicts freed to fight in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group's pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

TBILISI (Reuters) - The Wagner Group mercenaries who seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on Saturday in a failed mutiny included at least three convicted criminals, a Reuters review of facial recognition software, court records and social media showed.

Almost all of the fighters who took part in the gravest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule to date had their faces covered and so could not be identified.