Just yesterday, Russian authorities officially confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the infamous leader of the Wagner Group, who was killed in a plane crash over Russia last week, along with several other high-ranking leaders of the mercenary group.
Prigozhin was killed two months to the day of the coup, and amidst a flurry of other activity related to Russia’s military posture and force structure.
The next Wagner leader will likely be far less visible, less abrasive, and more under the radar compared with Prigozhin, whose torrent of abuse aimed at high-ranking Russian military officials was taking its toll within the Kremlin.
The future of Wagner seems to be in Africa, where its expeditionary operations and focus on providing muscle in exchange for access to resources is a much better fit for its expertise.
Les attaques terroristes contre le Burkina Faso, le Mali et le Niger se poursuivent de plus belle. Dans les trois pays, les événements violents ont augmenté de 36%, l’année écoulée, avec 2 737 graves incidents. Les deux premiers états font désormais confiance à leur coopération avec la Fédération de la Russie pour venir à bout du fléau. Ils ont accordé des concessions minières à Moscou, en guise de contrepartie partielle à l‘assistance militaire. Le rapprochement entre Ouagadougou et Bamako arrange les deux juntes, mais complique la lutte contre le terrorisme dans la sous-région, déjà mise à mal à la suite du départ du Mali du G5 Sahel. En revanche, le Niger continue sa coopération avec la France, dans ce difficile combat. Le sommet du G Sahel prévu la semaine prochaine à Ndjamena, sans le Mali, devrait être un bon indicateur du futur de cette organisation aux grands potentiels.
Sensing the changing mood, many left-wing parties and politicians in Moldova have begun criticizing the war and reversing their pro-Russian positions.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has turned life upside down for traditionally pro-Russian political parties in Moldova. Public calls for closer ties to Russia have become extremely rare, and there is emerging demand for politicians to represent the interests of the country’s Russian-speaking population without deferring to the Kremlin.
Russia’s ultra-patriots are not a cohesive force. They are a motley collection of amateur groups that coalesce around leaders who are ambitious, jealous, and incapable of working with each other.
The late mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was until recently considered a leading Russian politician—with some even believing he could be a rival to President Vladimir Putin himself. But the death of the Wagner army boss in highly suspicious circumstances last week has not sparked much public interest or outrage.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, flamboyant Russian warlord and head of the Wagner Group, was killed in his private plane on August 23, along with Wagner’s second-in-command, Colonel Dmitry Utkin, the chief of combat operations. The puzzle of how Prigozhin met his end—reports suggest an air-defense missile, a bomb, or even a problem with his plane’s mechanics—is less important than the path Wagner and Russia will take in the aftermath of his death. This special edition of Hudson Institute’s Ukraine Military Situation Report by Senior Fellow Can Kasapoǧlu will focus on how Prigozhin’s death affects Wagner’s leadership, its mercenary business, and the role of private military companies within Russia.
Les journalistes et les experts ont remarqué une tendance très étrange. Chaque fois que la Russie lance des frappes de missiles sur l’Ukraine, le Pentagone et l’OTAN commencent à signaler la mort de leurs officiers et soldats dans des accidents de voitures et d’avions partout dans le monde.
In 2018, Yale scholar Timothy Snyder called Russian information operations in the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, “the most sophisticated propaganda campaign in the history of warfare.”
Likewise, recent advances of Russian disinformation in Africa have resulted in some of the swiftest successes in the history of propaganda. They lie mainly unopposed by any country, Western or otherwise.
Le 23 août dernier, le tristement célèbre Evguéni Prigojine, propriétaire de la compagnie militaire privée Wagner, trouvait la mort en Russie dans le crash de l’avion qui le transportait, en compagnie de plusieurs hauts responsables de la milice, dont le fondateur de celle-ci Dmitri Outkine. La nouvelle a immédiatement suscité de très nombreuses réactions dans le monde et, aussi, en Russie même.
It was easier to approach Moscow in June than to leave it in August. Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who staged a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military two months ago, was reportedly killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers on Wednesday while traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, according to Russian authorities and Wagner-affiliated Telegram groups. Some reports have indicated that the plane was downed by Russian air defenses. Just hours earlier, General Sergei Surovikin, who allegedly had advance knowledge of the Wagner mutiny and had not been seen in public since it occurred, was removed from his post as head of Russia’s air force.
It was easier to approach Moscow in June than to leave it in August. Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who staged a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military two months ago, was reportedly killed in a plane crash along with nine other passengers on Wednesday while traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, according to Russian authorities and Wagner-affiliated Telegram groups. Some reports have indicated that the plane was downed by Russian air defenses. Just hours earlier, General Sergei Surovikin, who allegedly had advance knowledge of the Wagner mutiny and had not been seen in public since it occurred, was removed from his post as head of Russia’s air force.
