The Wagner Group’s presence extends from the ancient battlegrounds of Syria to the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa, projecting the Kremlin’s global influence with mercenaries accused of using brutal force and profiting from seized mineral riches.
After the dramatic death of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and several of his closest lieutenants in August, much of the discussion among international observers has centred around which individuals or organizations might take control of Prigozhin’s economic, military and criminal activities in Africa.
As we reach the end of 2023, while the Russian government celebrates “healthy” economic growth of around 3%,[1] ordinary Russians seem to be disturbed by the rapid increase in retail prices. By late November, the cost of many foodstuffs (including “benchmark” bananas and eggs), staple goods and services recorded a solid jump: eggs are now 23%, more expensive than they were a year ago, poultry 26%, bananas 47%, oranges 80%, and tomatoes 121%.[2] In its attempt to fight accelerating inflation, the Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal executive agency responsible for monitoring, controlling and censoring Russian mass media, blocked a popular website “Prices today” where different prices were compared from across the country.[3] Meanwhile, as the Bank of Russia gradually revises its 2023 inflation forecast to 7.5% from 5%, as was released in July,[4] the Kremlin is addressing the issue extremely often as it has become a matter of concern among the Russian population.
Last month, Ukrainian researchers and Politico correspondents revealed that they had identified nearly 200 Cubans who had joined the Russian military in recent weeks, with enlistees ranging in age between 19 and 69. In interviews, Cuban recruits reported a range of Russian tactics to secure new personnel. Many in particular cited monetary incentives and the prospect of Russian citizenship — an attractive draw for young men in a country beset by food insecurity and joblessness.
The 10th anniversary of the start of Ukraine’s Euromaidan, when thousands of demonstrators set up a protest camp in Kyiv’s central square, was last week.
Ukraine’s economy had been struggling and the Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych knew something had to be done to create new opportunities. Meanwhile the EU’s Eastern Partnership, the platform used by Brussels to engage with Eastern Europe, was keen to deepen relations with the countries of east, especially Ukraine. This led to a proposed political association and free trade agreement between the EU and Kyiv.
Putin and Medvedev recently made statements that took an expansive view of what “Russian lands” in Ukraine amounted to. At least as far as Putin is concerned, what he said at the November 3 meeting with members of the Civic Chamber is, philosophically, not all that different than the sort of historical observations Putin had made before.
On November 8, 2023, Reuters news agency, quoting its own sources, reported that Hizbullah had the Soviet-designed Yakhont universal medium-range anti-ship missile,[1] which, called the P-800 Onix, can be launched from the air, from land, and from underwater. According to the agency, Hizbullah may have acquired the Yakhont from Syria, where its fighters have been fighting on the side of the country’s President Bashar Al-Assad and government forces since 2011.
General Info:
The Wagner Group (Russian: Группа Вагнера, tr. Gruppa Vagnera), also known as PMC Wagner (Russian: ЧВК[a] «Вагнер», tr. ChVK «Vagner»; lit. ’Wagner Private Military Company’), is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group operates beyond the law in Russia, where private military companies are officially forbidden. Because it operates in support of Russian interests, receives equipment from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and uses MoD installations for training, the Wagner Group is said to be a de facto unit of the MoD or Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. While the Wagner Group itself is not ideologically driven, various elements of Wagner have been linked to neo-Nazism and far-right extremism.
L’exportateur d’armes d’État russe Rosoboronexport a signé cette année des contrats pour plus de 4,5 milliards de dollars avec des pays africains, a déclaré son président, Alexandre Mikheïev au cours du salon aéronautique de Dubaï.
The Object of War
From the moment in early April when Russian forces on the perimeter of Kiev began to withdraw to new positions in eastern Ukraine, western war propagandists have been trumpeting what they characterized as Russia’s “humiliating defeat”. As one who recognized as early as February 28th that the Russian army was executing a strategic feint in and around the Ukrainian capital, I could only shake my head and laugh at the cluelessness of most of the so-called “experts” who have attempted to sell this interpretation of events to hopelessly ignorant western audiences.