The head of Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigoyine, claimed in a video he was with his fighters in Africa, where he works across Russia, and called on volunteers to join him.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a face-to-face video Monday night for the first time since he gave up his anti-Kremlin insurgency in June. He spoke in a desert landscape, was camouflaged and displayed an assault rifle.
“We work ! The temperature is +50, just how we like it. The Wagner group is conducting a reconnaissance mission, making Russia even bigger on all continents and Africa even more free,” he said in this video, the one close to the paramilitary group Telegram channels was broadcast.
Presenting himself as a “nightmare” for jihadists from the group “Islamic State” and al-Qaeda, Wagner’s boss called for volunteers to join him to “fulfill the tasks that have been assigned to him and that we have promised to fulfill have”.
He does not say which country he is in, while Wagner has a significant presence in Mali and the Central African Republic.
In addition to this paramilitary presence, Russia has been waging a diplomatic offensive in Africa for several years in order to redouble the traditional Western powers there. Isolated on the international scene and in search of allies, it has multiplied these efforts since the attack on Ukraine.
Attached to Yevgeny Prigoyine’s video, which is broadcast on several Telegram channels claiming ties to Wagner, is a phone number and email address for recruiting volunteers.
Yevgeny Prigoyine had spoken out through audio messages broadcast on various Telegram channels since his failed rebellion, but never spoke on camera like he used to do in Ukraine.
The account of his official intelligence service, Concord, has been inactive since the mutiny.
In an audio message in late July, he welcomed the coup in Niger and castigated Western “former colonizers” by promising that Wagner “is capable of establishing order and crushing terrorists.”
Wagner’s uprising had shaken Russian power amid conflict in Ukraine. It ended on the evening of June 24 with an agreement that provided for Yevgeny Prigoyine to leave for Belarus, while his fighters could join him there, join the regular Russian army or return to civilian life.
If Wagner’s fighters had indeed traveled to Belarus, where they notably acted as “instructors” for local soldiers, their chief’s whereabouts and activities were not known.