The Wagner company founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash, runs a vast network of operations abroad, especially in Africa. An “unconventional war” serving Moscow’s interests, destined to continue
At the end of July, after an unexpected coup d’état in Niger had ousted the President of the Republic Mohamed Bazoum, the anti-French and Russia-praising demonstrations struck international public opinion. In those days, rumors spread of the presence of Wagner group mercenaries in the country in support of the coup junta. What is certain is that for years now the “Russian instructors” have had a consolidated role in the region.
The Private Military Company (PMC) founded by “Putin’s chef” Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died on August 23 in a plane crash in the skies of Kuzhenkino, is known to the general public for its protagonism on the Ukrainian battlefields, until the sensational mutiny of last June 24th. But it has long been active well outside European borders. And if at home its role had been significantly reduced after the rebellion against the leaders of the regular army, abroad, even after the disappearance of Prigozhin, the Russian militiamen did not stop carrying out their activities and their business. Which almost always coincide with those of the Kremlin.
The Wagner group, used for the first time during the Donbass war in support of the separatist forces, appeared in Syria at the end of 2015, after Moscow had come to the aid of the dictator Bashar al-Assad against the anti-government militias, and reached the number of to 5,000 personnel in the troubled Middle Eastern country. But it is in Africa that, in recent years, the Company’s rise has not stopped. The gateway to the continent was Libya, where the brigade landed to support the former warlord Khalifa Haftar, a strongman of Cyrenaica, and in 2019 participated in his offensive towards Tripoli (which later failed). The following year, according to a UN report, between 800 and 1,200 militiamen were deployed in the eastern Libyan region (whose ranks also included Syrian fighters).
Here the Wagner group began to experiment with the model that it would later consolidate in other African countries: provision of security services, training and logistical support up to active participation in armed clashes, and parallel involvement in more or less legal business and trafficking, such as the resource smuggling. If in Libya it was oil, today in Central Africa the “Russian instructors” are aiming first of all for gold. Arriving in 2018 to help the regime of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra repel a rebel offensive, in recent years they have created an extensive network of extractive activities throughout the country. Through affiliated companies, such as Lobaye Invest, Midas Resources and Diamville, they obtained export licenses and authorizations and used their networks between Sudan, Cameroon and Madagascar to set up a marketing system safe from controls. According to several analysts, the militia shipped Central African diamonds to buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Europe through the company Industrial Resources, thus evading sanctions imposed on Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine. Among the businesses started also the exploitation of rainforests in the South of the African country and even the production of beer and alcohol.
To achieve their objectives, on the battlefield or on the business front, Russian mercenaries use the same violent methods for which they have been repeatedly accused by the UN and human rights organizations in different theaters. Human Rights Watch spoke of “torture, abuse and murder of civilians”. If – as revealed by a recent report by the US investigative organization The Sentry – «the motto of the Wagner group in its incursions outside Bangui is “leave no trace”, in other words kill everyone, including women and children», even when of gold and diamonds, Putin’s secret legion, as it has been defined, does not hesitate to implement “violent military campaigns to remove civilians from mining areas”.
These crimes would be traceable to a detachment of fighters who also oversee the smuggling of gold (and much more) into Sudan, where the Wagner group has close contacts with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo’s “Hemeti” Rapid Support Forces (RSF), currently in war with the regular army. Sudan is considered one of the African countries that is most influenced by Moscow and Prigozhin’s private militia has been active there since he was alongside the dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Once again, access to precious deposits of gold, manganese, silicon and uranium is in the spotlight: until the outbreak of fighting between rival factions in Khartoum last April, Wagner agents from the capital sent ingots to the United Arab Emirates and to Moscow from sell on international markets. And not even the conflict would have completely interrupted operations in the country, thanks to the collaboration with the RSF paramilitaries themselves.
Mali’s junta, in power since 2021 thanks to a coup, also works with the Kremlin-funded private military company, whose members were largely recruited in Russian prisons. The UN working group on the use of mercenaries has called for investigations into crimes committed by Wagner fighters alongside Malian government forces following “persistent and alarming reports of horrific executions, mass graves, acts of torture, rape and sexual violence, looting, arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.”
The dividends of such brutality can be seen on an operational level – the US believes that the Company in Mali used false documents to hide the acquisition and transit of mines, unmanned aerial vehicles, radars and counter-battery systems to be used in Ukraine – but also on the political one. In July, the UN Security Council accepted the Malian request to withdraw its mission peacekeeping after a decade, leaving the country increasingly exposed to Moscow’s influence.
From Mali to Central Africa to Burkina Faso, the Wagner group has been instrumental in the Kremlin’s strategy of undermining French troops by replacing them with its own mercenaries, through support for coup regimes or governments that have disputes with Paris. More generally – as The Sentry report highlights – «Wagner’s modus operandi aimed to expand Russian influence, to the detriment of Western interests».
A strategy that is not limited to the African continent. Prigozhin’s mercenaries, for example, were in Caracas in 2019 to provide security for Venezuelan President Maduro after protests against his leadership and have trained elite fighting units in the oil-rich country, with which Moscow has close military ties how cheap. According to various think tank, the Russian PMC is also active in Asia, for example in Sri Lanka. It is not always possible to precisely trace the branches of private military companies – which are growing in Russia despite being illegal – since they formally act independently of the government and conventional armed forces.
However, analysts believe that the Wagner Group is likely present in more than 30 countries around the world. And given its convergence with the Kremlin’s agenda, the controversial founder’s passing is unlikely to undermine its effectiveness abroad. Already after the June mutiny, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had reassured allies in Africa that fighters on the continent would not be withdrawn. Indeed, in Central Africa there is a plan for a new large base, with a capacity of 5,000 personnel, which would act as a launch pad for Moscow’s geopolitical interests in the region. In the objective, Chad and above all the vast and rich Democratic Republic of Congo.
In short, some heads will roll and some names will change, but Putin will certainly not give up on exploiting the profitable network of hundreds of companies built by Prigozhin. The unconventional war of the new mercenaries is destined to continue.