The founder of the mercenary group "Wagner" Yevhen Pryhozhyn wants to switch the attention of his private army from the war in Ukraine to military operations in Africa, after the Russian military command stopped supplying him with ammunition and prohibited the recruitment of Russian prisoners.
Bloomberg writes about it.
The Russian military command managed to sow doubts in Putin about the skill of the "Wagner" mercenaries, emphasizing that all their results are related to recruited prisoners, who were sent en masse for assaults.
In addition, the Kremlin was angered by the independence of Wagnerʼs founder. In the end, Pryhozhyn was forbidden to recruit prisoners and the supply of ammunition was slowed down.
Now Pryhozhyn plans to increase the presence of the "Wagnerians" in Africa against the background of problems with a lack of manpower and ammunition, as well as because of failures in Bakhmut — the Russians have not been able to capture the city for several months, losing a large number of mercenaries.
At the same time, the publication notes that there are currently no signs of the "Wagner" group moving to Africa, but sources say that military operations there will most likely attract Pryhozhynʼs attention in the future, since it has become more difficult for his forces to fight in Ukraine.
In particular, this is evidenced by the announcement of the recruitment of mercenaries to serve in "Wagner" for half a year in Ukraine and for 9-14 months in Africa, with the clarification that those who want to go to African countries will be sent to the reserve.
As is well known, Yevhen Pryhozhyn built his military network from Libya to Sudan, Mali and the Central African Republic to support the geopolitical goals of the Kremlin.
- Recently, Italy accused PMC "Wagner" of the surge in migration from African countries, calling it part of the hybrid war implemented by the "Wagnerians".
- During 2022, PMC “Wagner” significantly expanded its activities in the Central African Republic, where mercenaries received almost a billion dollars in gold mining profits, and also recruited prisoners there.
- In total, over the past four years, the founder of the Russian PMC “Wagner” Yevhen Pryhozhyn earned more than $250 million in revenue from resource extraction in Africa and Asia.