The fine print:
he was in Wagner for a total of 3 months.
He joined in July, left before November.
He’s age 26.
So 3 months total in the organization, age 26.
Any chance the journalists are exaggerating about his “high rank”?
Maybe...he was tasked to oversee the prisoner army? And when he realized what was happening...it became a hard no.
A prisoner army leads to human rights problems.
His rank in a mercenary group pulled out of prison for cannon fodder, is possible, he was prior military and may have some rudimentary leadership skills and ability to march civilians and show them how to hold their weapons.
Bringing in 10s of thousands of civilian criminals means that someone has to herd them for the weeks or months of their short life as mercs, so appointing whoever is available to some simple ‘lead-the-charge’ rank is possible, sort of like when students are chosen for leadership positions in basic training.