Video appears to show Wagner Group troops preparing to leave Africa, suggesting a purge by Moscow, report says

George Glover
Updated ·3 min read
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  • A video appears to show dozens of Wagner Group soldiers preparing to leave Africa.

  • The regional publication Jeune Afrique reported hundreds of the mercenaries leaving the continent.

  • It could suggest a purge following the Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted armed rebellion.

Some Wagner Group soldiers appear to be pulling out of Africa, a sign that Moscow may be purging the mercenary organization.

Video footage obtained by NBC News this week showed dozens of the group's troops at a military base in Bangui in the Central African Republic, or CAR, gathered near a helipad and sorting through equipment. The video follows a report by Jeune Afrique that said about 500 to 600 mercenaries had left Bangui on Thursday.

"Purges are very likely, as loyalty is the hot-button issue of the moment for Putin," Alia Brahimi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, told NBC News.

Wagner has provided security services and military support across Africa in the past to boost the Kremlin's propaganda efforts, the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank said. The mercenaries are particularly active in the CAR, Libya, Mali, and Sudan, the Council on Foreign Relations reported.

But Wagner's relationship with the Kremlin has fractured in recent weeks after the group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his soldiers to march on Moscow in June.

Prigozhin later called off his attempted mutiny after he reportedly negotiated a deal with the aid of the president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has subsequently started cracking down on suspected Prigozhin allies.

Wagner mercenaries have been accused of committing atrocities

In this handout photo taken from a video released by Prigozhin Press Service, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, records his video addresses in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.
In this handout photo taken from a video released by Prigozhin Press Service, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, records his video addresses in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24.Prigozhin Press Service via Associated Press

Fidele Gouandjika, an advisor to CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, said there had been "no change" in Wagner's position in the country, NBC News reported.

The Wagner soldiers pictured leaving Africa had refused to sign new contracts with Russia's defense ministry, according to a Sky News report that cited senior sources in CAR's ministry of defense.

Between 1,300 and 1,400 Wagner troops remain in the country, an official told the outlet.

Wagner mercenaries have been accused of committing atrocities in CAR, according to reports.

Prigozhin's group has been "perfecting a nightmarish blueprint for state capture" in the CAR, according to the Washington-based anti-corruption organization The Sentry, Sky News reported, and was helping to plunder the country's national resources, including gold and diamonds.

Since 2019, Wagner personnel have reportedly trained militiamen in "ultraviolent" torture and killing techniques, including cutting fingers and legs, removing nails, strangling, throwing fuel, and burning people alive, The Sentry reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider