“The temperature is +50 - everything as we like,” the former mutineer said in a video some suspect was filmed in Africa.
Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin posted his first video address since leading a short-lived mutiny in late June, appearing in a social media clip which he suggested was shot in Africa.
“The temperature is +50 - everything as we like. The Wagner PMC makes Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa - more free,” Prigozhin says in the video. Wagner is already present in Niger’s neighbour Mali, where its fighters were hired in 2021 by a military junta which has ordered out French troops and UN peacekeepers who had been helping the Malian army battle Islamist insurgents for a decade.UN sanctions monitors alleged in a report in August that Malian troops and their Russian partners were using violence against women and other grave human rights abuses to spread terror.
Pro-coup demonstrators in Niamey have waved Russian flags, adding to Western countries’ fears that Niger could follow Mali’s lead and replace their troops with Wagner fighters. Since the mutiny, some Wagner fighters have moved to Belarus and started training the army there. In comments published in late July, Prigozhin also said Wagner was ready to further increase its presence in Africa.
He is no longer the deputy commander of military operations in Ukraine, RBC said, citing one person. The Defence Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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