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Unearthed: How Wagner's Mining Operations Entangled with Global Systems
September 24, 2024
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C4ADS
Wagner's early mining operations in Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR) stemmed from its deep integration into legitimate global financial, transportation, and logistics networks. To move money and goods, PMC Wagner took advantage of international systems of finance, transportation, and logistics, relying on large Western intermediary banks, including JPMorgan and HBSC, and global shipping companies as crucial components of its operations. By operating through a variety of international and local intermediaries, PMC Wagner enmeshed itself in licit systems undetected.
What Next for Wagner's Information Operations?
September 23, 2024
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RUSI
Since 2013, the Wagner Group has been involved in eleven media organizations and with 150 media partners with the biggest impact from these operations felt in Africa. These information operations, which were conceptualized by Russia's intelligence services, aimed to combine and create synergies between the Wagner Group's self-promotion in new markets and pro-Russian propaganda. Wagner has been able to mount effective information operations in Africa by relying on local actors, such as Afrique Media TV, Radio Révolution Panafricaine, Radio Longo Song, and the websites Mali Actu, Maliweb, and Malijet to deliver Wagner- and Russia-friendly media content and to counter Western narratives. Wagner's information operations team did not come out in support of the 2023 mutiny, which may have allowed it to maintain its standing with the Russian government.
Anton "Lotus" Yelizarov: Wagner Leader MIA in Mali
September 20, 2024
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Jamestown Foundation
Anton "Lotus" Yelizarov, a Russian commander who took over the combat side of the Wagner Group's military operations, may have been killed or captured in a disastrous ambush on Russian forces in Mali in late July. Yelizarov was one of the few remaining pre-mutiny Wagner leaders of note. While he may have been considered a successor to Prigozhin at some point, he lacks the charisma or anti-establishment outlook of the groups' former leader.
What's in a Game? Video Games and Russian Influence in Africa
September 18, 2024
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Institute for Security Studies
A new video game made in Russia, African Dawn, is being used to spread pro-Russian narratives to players. The online geopolitical game is a modification of the American game Hearts of Iron IV and allows players to play as either the Alliance of Sahel States, consisting of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, with Russia's Africa Corps, or the Western-backed ECOWAS with France and the U.S. The game reenacts the September 2022 Burkina Faso coup under Ibrahim Traoré and promotes anti-Western narratives, positioning Russia and its allies as saviors. The new game was launched in Burkina Faso and seems to be linked to African Initiative, a pro-Russian news information service with Burkina Faso and Mali offices.
Wagner Covets Mining Permits Granted to Kigali
September 17, 2024
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Africa Intelligence
The report discusses the breakdown of relations between Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan interests in the Central African Republic (CAR). Wagner is reportedly displeased by the recent mining rights issued to Rwandan mining firms in the CAR. This led to Wagner mercenaries invading the ministry of mines to obtain the documents used to grant the licenses to Rwanda. The report adds that Wagner mercenaries had previously evicted Chinese miners from the country.
U.S.-Russia Battle for Influence in Africa Plays Out in Central African Republic
September 14, 2024
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Voice of America
Russia's Wagner Group faces competition from the U.S. PMSC Bancroft in the Central African Republic (CAR). Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a number of governments in Africa, displacing traditional allies such as France and the U.S. However, Russia has faced human rights abuse accusations. The U.S. has been pushing CAR to find an alternative to Wagner for years, but the State Department said in a statement this year that it was not involved in the decision to establish Bancroft's presence in CAR. Bancroft founder Michael Stock stated that the group entered CAR at the request of the country's government following Prigozhin's mutiny, signing a deal in September 2023.
After Prigozhin: Does Wagner Group Have a Future?
September 11, 2024
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The Russia Program (George Washington University)
Since 2023, the Russian state has struggled to replace Wagner while retaining the flexibility and effectiveness of its operations on the ground. The authors of the paper interviewed twenty-two current and former Wagner Group staff; Russian diplomats and military officers; Syrian, Malian, and Central African officials, military officers, businessmen, and community elders; and experts and analyst working on Wagner Group issues. The authors conclude that Moscow remains reliant on the skills that Wagner demonstrate as it does not have an alternative to the group and that having Wagner take on the most controversial jobs for the Russian Ministry of Defense still benefits Moscow as it still provides a perceived degree of plausible deniability.
How Foreign Intervention Failed Mali
September 10, 2024
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Foreign Policy
Following a July 27 attack on the Wagner Group, Ukraine has announced that it provided Malian rebels with "necessary information which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals." Mali finds itself at the center of overlapping civil wars involving separatists, ethnic militias, jihadis, and international actors. Russian military planners and Malian officials initially settled on a military solution to the country's crisis, but the July 27 attack shows that military options are unlikely to provide solutions to Mali's crises. Furthermore, the rise of great-power competition narratives threatens to further destabilize the country by turning it into. a site for geopolitical competition between Russia and the West.
The Strategies Driving the Players in Competition for Africa's Critical Minerals
September 09, 2024
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Atlantic Council
Both Russia and China are attempting to gain access to critical minerals, including nickel, cobalt, and lithium, in Africa. China has used its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop its extraction, refining, and production of these minerals in Africa. In comparison, Russia has used the Wagner Group and its successor the Africa Corps to expand its influence across the continent, benefitting from instability on the continent to gain access to mining deals. While these deals have primarily centered around gold, some experts are concerned about what these deals could mean for Western access to other critical minerals in areas where Russia has a presence.
Violence in Central Sahel Has Not Improved, Experts Say, as Some Russian Mercenaries Depart
September 06, 2024
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Voice of America
This video notes that, at the same time Al Qaeda-linked terrorists were attacking villagers in Burkina Faso, Russian Bear Brigade mercenaries have drawn down from the country to fight in Russia's Kursk region. SIPRI expert Mamadou Bodian noted that Bear Brigade mercenaries had provided personal security to President Ibrahim Traoré and their withdrawal "raises a lot of questions about what will happen with the security of these Burkinabe officials." Traoré has fended off two potential coups since he took power in 2022. Bodian noted that Russian intervention has not stemmed violence in the region.
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