[ad_1]
The Wagner mercenary group has provided fighters for hire across Africa and other countries, with the Kremlin’s approval. But what’s next for the global network — and the countries Wagner operates in — is uncertain after the group’s founder and leader, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, on Saturday called off a 24-hour mutiny against his onetime ally and benefactor, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, offered some assurance, at least in the immediate term, to Wagner’s global clientele Tuesday. He told RT, a state-controlled outlet, that “instructors” and “private military contractors” will remain in Mali and the Central African Republic, two strategic Russian and Wagner strongholds in Africa. Lavrov denied reports of panic in countries where political and economic elites have come to rely on Russia’s mercenaries for arm power and/or security. “I did not see any changes in the relations of the relevant African countries with the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said.
But what Wagner operations will come to look like in the mutiny’s aftermath remains in question. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a news briefing Monday that the agency “does not know what will happen to Wagner” or any possible “successor organizations.”
Prigozhin vowed Monday in a Telegram message to continue operating Wagner from Belarus, where he agreed to go into exile after refusing to let Russia’s regular army absorb his units in Ukraine. Hours later, Putin said that fighters who sided with Prigozhin could go to Belarus, join the Russian security forces or head home.
While Prigozhin’s rebellion concerned units of mercenaries in Ukraine, over the last nine years Wagner fighters have popped up in more than a dozen countries. They’ve served as security for Russian assets or host governments. Others have fought on the battlefield. Wagner said Monday that he always operated internationally “in the interests of the Russian Federation.” On Tuesday, Putin for the first time said that Wagner was “fully state funded.”
Here’s what to know about where Wagner Group has worked and the impact of its operations.
[ad_2]
Source link
