The Wagner Group is a highly secretive organization that does not exist officially. Fighting for rent is a violation of Russian and international law.
But it is believed that at least 10,000 mercenaries have signed a deal with the company in the last seven years.
The militant told the BBC that the new recruits were being housed in units headed by the GRU, the Russian Defense Ministry's secret intelligence unit.
According to him, the recruitment policy of mercenaries has changed which does not have the same restrictions as before. Expressing displeasure at the declining professional standards of the new mercenaries, the man said that they were now recruiting everyone.
He said the new recruits were no longer called Wagner, but new names were being used, such as the Hawks.
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In 2021, the BBC gained access to the electronic tablet of one of Wagner's fighters who was fighting for Russia in Libya.
Candice Rondo is Professor of Russian and Eastern European Affairs at Arizona State University in the United States. He believes the new name for mercenaries is being used as part of a strategy because the Wagner Group's reputation has been tarnished.
The Wagner group has also been accused of human rights abuses and war crimes during operations in Syria and Libya.
According to sources close to the BBC, the new recruits are being trained at Wagner's base in the southern Russian region of Molkino, which is adjacent to a Russian military base.
Russia's social media platform VK, a self-proclaimed defense expert, ran an ad in the first week of the Ukraine invasion calling for security guards from the former Soviet Union. According to military experts, the ad was intended for Ukraine.
BBC News