Wagner’s tentacles in Africa

Mercenaries from the Wagner group guarding the VIP stand that the president sits in during Labour Day, or May Day, celebrations in Bangui, Central African Republic. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

HOURS after Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary group ended their rebellion, officials with the Russian Foreign Ministry phoned the president of the Central African Republic to assure him that the thousands of Wagner fighters deployed in his country would stay, and that Russia would keep looking for new ventures in Africa.

Thousands of miles away, and as the rebellion was still under way in June, Russian troops in Syria had surrounded several bases that host Wagner fighters, fearing the contagion might spread beyond Russia.