OPEN LETTER/ Come to the dialogue and listen to me speak, otherwise I will cut off your scholarships, you will rot in prison. Please!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

The fate of the Wagner group is unclear after the death of its leader

2023-08-26 21:42:55Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

The fate of the Wagner group is unclear after the death of its leader

The Wagner Group's presence stretches from the ancient lands of Syria to the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa, wielding the Kremlin's global influence through mercenaries accused of using brute force and profiting from mining wealth.

But this was the situation under Yevgeny Prigozhin, who, in what may be his last recruitment video, appeared in military uniform and holding a combat weapon in a dry, dusty field while boasting that Wagner "is would make Russia even grander on all continents and Africa even freer".

A private plane carrying Prigozhin and his closest military leaders crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, two months after he led an armed rebellion challenging the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is speculation that the mercenary leader, who is believed to be dead, was targeted for killing because of the rebellion, although the Kremlin has denied involvement.

The plane crash has raised questions about the future of his private army, which fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine before his short-lived rebellion against military leaders in Moscow.

Russian authorities have said they must wait for the results of a DNA test to confirm Prigozhin's death, but President Putin offered his condolences after the plane crashed. The Russian leader has also ordered Wagner Group fighters to sign an oath of loyalty to the Russian state, a decree published on the Kremlin's website late Friday said, effective immediately.

The order came after the Kremlin on Friday denied suggestions by Western officials and the media that the Wagner boss may have been killed on President Putin's orders.

In African countries where the Wagner Group provided security services against extremist organizations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, officials and experts predicted that Russia would probably maintain some kind of presence, placing the mercenaries under a new leadership structure.

Others say, however, that Mr. Prigozhin had built deep personal ties that Moscow would find it difficult to quickly replace.

Mr Prigozhin had struck a deal with President Putin after the rebellion to relocate Wagner Group mercenaries to Belarus in exchange for amnesty and recently talked about expanding his activities in Africa. He was recently seen talking to African officials during a high-level meeting in St. Petersburg. He quickly welcomed the military coup that ousted Niger's president, Mohamed Bazoum, from power last month. The military junta contacted the Wagner Group, but it is not clear what response it received. So far there is no visible presence of Russian mercenaries in the West African country, apart from crowds waving flags of Russia and the Wagner Group during demonstrations in support of the coup.

Although US officials have not confirmed that Russia or the Wagner Group had any role in ousting Mohamed Bazoumi, there are fears that the Kremlin could exploit the West's weakened position in Africa, where Wagner Group mercenaries are already active in Mali and suspected that they are also settled in Burkina Faso.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×