Ride of the Valkyries, Africa Corps-Rebranding CHVK Wagner

Intelligence Research Observatory

Ride of the Valkyries, Africa Corps-Rebranding CHVK Wagner

Methodology-Open Source Research & Intelligence Analysis

Intelligence Analyst- S.A. Cavanagh

Intelligence Research Assistance-Chuck Stevens

Graphic Novel Image of Prigozhin of Unknown Origin

Background & Analysis

Africa Corps, formerly CHVK Wagner has been absorbed by Russias Defense ministry post assassination, Yvegny Prigozhin & Dmitry Utkin. No longer the plausibly deniable mercenary group, Africa Corps sometimes referred to as the Expedition Corps, is playing an important role in regional power and influence. The Wagner network is intact and has pivoted aggressively; with expansion into key African regions, Sudan, the Central African Republic and the western Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and Niger. The French colonial influence and American stratagems are out, replaced by a Russian security & intelligence apparatus.  Africa Corps is commanded by General Andrey Averyanov, head of Intelligence Unit 29155, and supplemented with members of the FSB and GRU. No longer is General Averanov undermining governments, but rather securing post coup d’état-Juntas; simultaneously securing strategic access to minerals (lithium, uranium, cobalt, rare earth, gold, diamonds, platinum) precious timber, oil & gas.  Russia wants new naval bases in Tobruk, Libya for access to Mediterranean shipping and in Sudan adjacent to the Red Sea (The Hill, 2024). Russia wants to occupy indigenous African military bases that will range Russian drones capable of striking NATO, Sicily, Spain, Gibraltar & Italy (Institute for the Study of War, 2024). By controlling Uranium deposits and oil and gas, Russia hopes to energy blackmail Europe while financing the war in Ukraine.  The most prolific aspect of dirty grey zone activities conducted by Africa Corps include, secret networks that facilitate high influx of northern African migrants into Europe, which paralyze social and financial resources. Russia has repeatedly and systematically weaponized migrant crises in Finland, Lithuania, and Poland. Africa Corps is using northern Niger for trans-Saharan migrant-smuggling routes to increase irregular migration flows that cripple Europe. Africa Corps is controlling the narrative in the Sahel, with important propaganda and disinformation influence networks, the U.S. Department of Defense, believes “Moscow has been “sponsoring 80 documented campaigns, targeting more than 22 African countries (PBS, 2024). Putin is also using this African adventure to recruit foreign fighters for the front lines of Ukraine.  A series of military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger saw French and US forces evicted and replaced by the Africa Corps. The Africa Corps is now common among the three African nations that make up the new Alliance of Sahel States. The group’s work coincides with diplomatic and economic initiatives that aim to make Russia a major player on the African continent. Moscow will likely seek to expand the operations of the Africa Corps in a region that is increasingly rejecting its postcolonial relationship with France and the post-Cold War hegemony of the US. (Energy Intel, 2024) Wagner and Africa Corps is not without challenges. Wagner failed miserably in Mozambique, retreating shortly after deployment, 2019. Recently 80 Africa Corps operators in Mali, were ambushed and slaughtered in July of 2024, by Tuareg rebels along with the al Qaeda affiliate in the Sahel, JNIM (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin) known for ad hoc cooperation (CNN, 2024).

What is Africa Corps?

Africa Corps is the former private military contractor CHVK Wagner, initially a clandestine unit of the Russian military, it was set up and commanded by Oligarch Businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin & the battle hardened former special forces veteran & Spestnaz operator Dmitry Utkin. Wagner was a fluid organization, the units size and scope evolved as needed for operations. Dubbed “Little Green Men” Wagner units were compared to the small plastic soldiers sold as children’s toys, because units could be expanded by opening a new bag of plastic green soldiers, alternatively could be easily downsized, by placing the green men back in the package.

• Wagner Little Green Men, first appeared in Ukraine 2014 in support of Donbas separatists
• Wagner then headed to Syria 2015, supporting Russian forces and assisting Syrian forces fight anti-regime forces As payment Wagner received percentages of oil and gas revenue
• In 2021 Wagner set up in Sudan, Libya, Central African Republic, Mozambique and Mali
• Wagner specialized protecting governments from coup d’état, fighting rebels and degrading Al Qaeda for payment and access to mineral extraction, gold, oil and gas
• In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, in May, the government turned to Wagner to rebuild its Donbas operation. By the end of that year, Wagner had more than 30,000 fighters in Ukraine, many recruited from Russian penal institutions. While the Ukraine operation dwarfed African activities, Wagner continued to expand its African footprint, reinforcing existing operations while dispatching around 1,000 more personnel to Mali, where Wagner supported a military junta which sought to evict France from Malian territory
• Prigozhin, Utkin and several other high ranking Wagner commanders were killed in a plane crash, (2023) likely assassinated by Putin after Prigozhin failed to to reach Moscow to remove the government in a failed mutiny

Who is Responsible for Running Africa Corps?

• Eric Whitaker, the top U.S. envoy to Burkina Faso reports, the Putin administration has achieved complete control over the Wagner brand in the post-Prigozhin era
• “Africa Corps earns (the Russian government) hard-currency payments from host governments for its services and also gains a significant sources of revenue from gold derived from its activities in the Sahel”
• By aligning Africa Corps’ operations with Russia’s foreign policy, security interests and international commitments could be part of the country’s long-term military strategy in Africa As a unit reporting to the Defence Ministry, Africa Corps could theoretically be held accountable by Russia for violations committed during military operations. Recurring allegations of atrocities in Central and Northern Mali have tarnished Russia’s reputation over the years (Institute for Security Studies, 2024)

Image courtesy of I News- Gen Andrey Averyanov, head of Unit 29155 has not only assumed command of Africa Corps, but is thought to have assassinated Yvegny Prigozhin

Who is the Top Dog Commanding Africa Corps?

• Shortly after Prigozhin’s mutiny, in which it was decided that Wagner’s Africa operations would fall directly under the control of Russian military intelligence, the GRU”
• Control was handed to Gen Andrey Averyanov, head of Unit 29155, a secretive operation 
• It seems Gen Averyanov’s new business is not to make governments precarious, but rather secure the future, in exchange for mineral rights
• In early September (2024), accompanied by deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Gen Averyanov began a tour of former Wagner operations in Africa
• They started in Libya, meeting warlord Gen Khalifa Haftar
• Next stop was Burkina Faso where they were greeted by 35-year-old coup leader Ibrahim Traoré
• After that, they landed in the Central African Republic, possibly the most well-established Wagner operation on the continent, before heading to Mali to meet the leaders of the junta there (PBS, 2024)
• The FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, plays an important part in the new organization, he notes. The head and editor-in-chief of African Initiative is Artyom Kureyev, identified by Russia experts as a Russian Federal Security Service agent. Mr Kureyev is linked to the Valdai Club, a Moscow-based think-tank close to President Putin

Recruitment-Africa Corps

Africa Corps Recruitment Poster

• Africa Corps, formerly Wagner Group, is still carrying out recruiting efforts, and its numbers are slowly rising, which will enable it to scale up troop deployments in coming years
• The group has targeted former Wagner fighters, Russian military veterans, and military-fit Russian residents to fill a variety of roles through its Telegram channel since December 2023
• These advertisements brand the Africa Corps service as a chance to gain a stable Ministry of Defense–provided salary with medical and life insurance benefits
• Africa Corps has been supplemented by regular forces from the Russian defense ministry and a new generation of volunteers, recruited using the former Wagner networks
• Africa Corps, allows former Wagner contractors to wear CHVK Wagner insignia on uniforms
• Niether Wagner nor Africa Corps publishes unit strength or recruiting numbers (Institute for the Study of War, 2024) 

What is Russia’s interest in African countries?

• Africa is rich in minerals, oil and other resources, which come with political and legal challenges. Its resources are increasingly central to economic and national security, such as cobalt, used in electronics like mobile phones, or lithium, which is used in batteries.
• Russia has thrived in countries where governance is limited, and has signing mining deals through companies it controls. An EU parliament study showed that Russia secured access to gold and diamonds in the Central African Republic, cobalt in Congo, gold and oil in Sudan, chromite in Madagascar, platinum and diamonds in Zimbabwe, and uranium in Namibia.
• The U.S. based non-profit Democracy 21 group said in an analysis last December that Wagner and Russia may have made about $2.5 billion through the African gold trade alone since invading Ukraine in February 2022. Though Russia is increasingly a partner to African countries in the oil and mining sector, it lags far behind as an overall trading partner. For example, data by the International Monetary shows less than 1% of Africa’s exports go to Russia, for now. (PBS, 2024)

Visual of Russian Africa Corps Recruitment of Specialists pamphlet -Leadership of the new military structure is supervised by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov

What is Africa Corps General Mission?

• Undermining the West’s counterterrorism posture in West and North Africa—and create long-term opportunities for the Kremlin to create conventional and irregular threats that strategically pressure Europe (Institute for the Study of War, 2024) 
• Russian paramilitaries are brought in to protect military junta(s), allowing them to stay as long as they want
• Juntas become dependent on Africa Corps for its internal security, a change that is having an immediate impact, Russia is using pretty traditional Soviet anti-partisan methods
• What the Russians have provided is a strike force, with helicopters with advanced capabilities and a lot of firepower,” says Dr Watling, a land warfare specialist at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi). Russia is using pretty traditional Soviet anti-partisan method (BBC, 2024) 
• The “Expeditionary Corps” appears more as “Wagner 2.0”, than a radical departure for Russian foreign policy
• Prigozhin had built deep political, economic and military ties on the African continent – dismantling this complex web would have been difficult and ultimately counter-productive.
• The “Expeditionary Corps” is operating in the same countries, with the same equipment and – it seems – with the same ultimate goal (BBC, 2024) 
• Oleksandr Danylyuk, an expert in Russian multidimensional warfare and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think-tank, argue that the change is merely a reversion to Russia’s original blueprint
• “There is no difference … because Prigozhin had never been owner of that operation,” he said of Wagner. “It was always an operation of Russian secret services and Prigozhin was nothing but the manager in this chain of command”
• The changes mean more by way of direct control from Moscow and less flexibility for the managers in charge of the “Russian conquest” 
• Africa Corps, was merely part of a grand scheme called Expedition Corps, which was “originally designed and created for operations not only in Africa, but in all the countries of the global south. This is actually just the beginning”
• As coups and conflicts in former French colonies caused relations between them and Paris to deteriorate in the last decade, Russia rekindled cold war-era ties across parts of Africa
• Under the new arrangement, Russian troop arrivals have been restricted to only a few hundred per deployment. Even combined with understaffed local armies, numbers are too low to properly take on armed groups
• Experts say that is a design feature, not a flaw
• “These forces are not there for citizen security, they’re effectively protection details for the regimes … that Moscow has co-opted,” said Siegle
• “Moscow has seen [that] it doesn’t need to deploy many [soldiers],” “There’s just a hundred or so in Niger and Burkina Faso … it’s a financially satisfactory arrangement for the Russians (The Guardian, 2024)

Image of Dmitry Utkin Wagner Co-founder Wagner Group 

The Dirty Grey Zone-Intelligence Missions Executed by Africa Corps

Greater Russian influence and military presence in Africa allows the Kremlin to strategically threaten Europe with,

• Energy Blackmail
• Migration Influxes
• Drone Threat

Energy Blackmail

• Russian access to the large uranium deposits in Niger, increasing its leverage with countries seeking to cut Russian energy purchases
• Niger is the seventh-largest uranium producer in the world The mine provided about 2,020 tons of uranium in 2022, France could be particularly vulnerable as it relies on nuclear energy for 68 percent of its electricity and has relied on Niger for nearly 20 percent of the uranium it imports to power its nuclear energy

Migration Influxes

• Russia has positions in northern Niger is exploiting trans-Saharan migrant-smuggling routes to increase irregular migration flows to Europe 
• Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to foment greater refugee flows from Africa to destabilize Europe, influence elections, and undermine support for Ukraine
• Russia has repeatedly and systematically weaponized migrant crises in Europe
• The Russian and Belorussian governments have flooded the borders of Finland, Lithuania, and Poland with refugees since 2021
• Russia’s growing footprint in sub-Saharan Africa also increases opportunities for Russian personnel to directly lure more migrants to Europe to drop at NATO’s borders (Institute for the Study of War, 2024) 

Drone Threat –USA-NATO bases, Sicily, Italy, Spain, Gibraltar

Map of Drone use in Sub-Saharan Africa courtesy of Grey Dynamics

• Russia is unlikely to base drones with its mercenaries in Niger 
• However the presence of Russian mercenary bases in northern Niger would create an opportunity for the Kremlin to deploy drones in the area to threaten NATO’s southern flank in the future
• The rapid increase in Iranian and Russian production of Shahed-style drones for Russia’s war in Ukraine increases the risk that the Kremlin leverages some of this production capacity to equip mercenaries in Africa with drones
• Shahed 136 drones based near Agadez would be within range of key US and NATO installations and parts of the Mediterranean Sea
• The Shahed 136 has a maximum range of 1,553 miles (2,500 kilometers)
• Agadez is 1,523 miles from Sicily, Italy, and the southern tip of the Italian mainland; 1,555 miles from Gibraltar, UK’s overseas territory on the Iberian Peninsula; and roughly 1,600 miles from the US-Spanish air and naval bases in southern Spain (Institute for the Study of War, 2024) 

Russian Side Show Missions

• Putin is of course not liberating Africa, nor is he putting an end to any remnants of 19th century French or British imperialism. Rather, he is fighting his own war of imperial subjugation, so as to steal Africa’s gold, rare earth minerals and other natural resources to finance his war in Ukraine
• Putin is also using this African adventure to recruit foreign fighters for the front lines
• Putin’s Expeditionary Corps operates in Sudan, the Central African Republic and the western Sahel states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Russia, according to reports Putin, “is offering governments in Africa a ‘regime survival package’ in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources” (The Hill, 2024)

Image of Khalifa Haftar & an unidentified Russian Official Courtesy of The Libya Observer

Image of Russian Navy in Tobruk Port Libya courtesy of X

Side Show Naval Base Libya

• One of Putin’s strategic goals is to build a new naval base in Tobruk, Libya, to project force into the western Mediterranean and serve as a future threat to the U.S. Sixth Fleet, headquartered in Naples to the Northwest
• Mad Vlad’s other strategic aim is to secure eastern Libya as Moscow’s primary logistical hub and staging area for Russian paramilitary groups– operating across the African continent
• To achieve this foothold, Putin is turning to Khalifa Haftar, head of the Libyan National Army.
• The 80-year-old warlord and his six sons effectively control all of eastern Libya. Haftar’s eleven-year reign has resulted in widespread “corruption, death and destruction”
• Haftar is helping bring Russia and its mercenary forces to Libya — and shrewdly cementing his own power
• Putins secondary military purpose is to threaten commercial shipping lanes vital to Western trade around the whole of Africa, strangling them if and when necessary
• By expanding Moscow’s Syrian port in Tartus and constructing new Russian naval ports in Tobruk and in Sudan adjacent to the Red Sea, Putin is building the capacity to directly challenge and threaten the West’s key maritime lifelines (The Hill, 2024)

Image Courtesy of Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Does Africa Corps Disseminate Propaganda and Disinformation?

• The Russian Military apparatus excels in the grey zones of propaganda, disinformation and misinformation.  Africa Corps reports directly to Russian military intelligence, the GRU”
• And General Andrey Averyanov, head of Unit 29155, a secretive operation specializing in targeting killings and destabilizing foreign governments. While General Averanov now must protect and stabilize Juntas, Russian propaganda doctrine continues.  According to the Africa Center For Strategic Studies, an academic institution within the U.S. Department of Defense, “Moscow has been “sponsoring 80 documented campaigns, targeting more than 22 African countries.”  (PBS, 2024)

The Dark Continent, Africa Corps Regional Power and Influence 

• Early in the War in Ukraine (2022) Africa Corps had apparently begun to subsume Wagner’s operations in the Sahel and beyond, re-engaging with countries where Wagner had contracts
• Mali, Libya and Burkina Faso have already signed agreements with the Russian Defence Ministry
• CAR is currently negotiating with Russia’s government to build a military base
• The Alliance of Sahel States, Russia – through the Africa Corps – will likely present itself as a security ally and guarantor for the three states
• The Africa Corps allows Russia to expand its influence on the continent through direct state means. With continued instability in the Sahel, Russia will likely be an attractive security ally
• While Africa Corps appears to be the sharp end of Russia’s security strategy in the turbulent Sahel region, its long-term goal will undoubtedly be to expand its influence across Africa (BBC, 2024) (Institute for Security Studies, 2024)

France & the USA Out-Russia In, Now a Major Player

Image of US Special Forces Soldiers Niger, in Battle with Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)

• Russian diplomatic goals and the Africa Corps’ military capabilities has seen Russia not only retain the footprint in Africa established by the Wagner Group, but expand its operations, especially in the strategic Sahel region
• A series of military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger saw French and US forces evicted from bases, and replaced by the Africa Corps
• The Africa Corps is now a common force among the three African nations that make up the new Alliance of Sahel States
• The group’s work coincides with diplomatic and economic initiatives that aim to make Russia a major player on the African continent. Moscow will likely seek to expand the operations of the Africa Corps in a region that is increasingly rejecting its postcolonial relationship with France and the post-Cold War hegemony of the US (Energy Intel, 2024) 

Wagner & Africa Corps Failures in Africa

• The secretive Russian PMC has not been without failure in the African continent
• Russian mercenaries in Africa have been ineffective—if not counterproductive

Mozambique

Image of Salafi-jihadi insurgency in Mozambique courtesy of Daily Mail

• Wagner retreated from Mozambique after soviet era counterinsurgency operations became disastrous
• As a result Wagner Group forces failed to slow the Salafi-jihadi insurgency in Mozambique in 2019 and withdrew as the PMC found conditions unworkable

Image thought to be Africa Corps operating in Mali Courtesy of Benin Intelligent

Image of Africa Corps equipment captured in battle Mali by Tuareg rebels courtesy of Zona Militar

Images of Africa Corps members killed in battle in Mali courtesy CBS, ABC & Reuters

Mali

• Recent reports indicate, 80 or more Africa Corps operators were killed in battle with Tuareg rebels in July of 2024
• Many of those killed were veterans of Ukraine, Libya and Syria
• The defeat in Mali highlights the challenges and high risk of failure which comes with supporting Junta regimes (Reuters, 2024) 
• 1,000–2,000 Russian soldiers in Mali have not degraded the insurgency there. Russian soldiers’ brutal tactics are also counterproductive, as they exacerbate human rights abuses against civilians that insurgent groups in turn use to gain popular support (Institute for the Study of War, 2024)

Image of Africa Corps soldiers killed in battle in Mali withTuareg rebels courtesy of Reuters

De Faakto Intelligence Caveats

Caveat-The Bear Brigade

• The Bear Brigade has recently redeployed to Ukraine since incursions of Ukraine forces into Russia
• Russia has added more armed men to its Sahel operations, this time in the form of the Bear Brigade, which has operated in Burkina Faso since May 2024
• Experts say the Bear Brigade is among an estimated 300 Russian security operatives in Burkina Faso, which includes members of Russian military intelligence, the GRU
• About 30 Bear Brigade members have taken up residence in Ouagadougou and two nearby military bases. They are training forces loyal to junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré and enhancing his personal security apparatus after an alleged countercoup attempt in September 2023
• Experts say Traoré is an example of coup leaders using Russian fighters to protect themselves rather than fighting rebels
• Formed in Russian-occupied Crimea in March 2023, the Bear Brigade became part of the Ministry of Defense two months later as the 81st Specialized Volunteer Brigade. In Burkina Faso, it operates parallel to Russia’s Africa Corps unit, the government-run successor to the mercenary Wagner Group. (ADF Magazine, 2024) 

Caveat-Killing of Prigozhin & Utkin

Image of Africa Corps Dmitry ‘Salem’ Podolsky Security Advisor to the Central African Republic, images in background are those of PMC Wagner founders Prigozhin & Utkin courtesy of Atlas & Grey Zone

De Faakto analysis

• Prigozhin; a patriotic leader loyal to his troops, felt betrayed by the Russian Military, starved of equipment, arms and ordinance.  Prigozhin an “up close to the front leader” became ambivalent in his loyalty between Putin and his troops.  Prigozhin had no issues taking orders for impossible “meat grinder” missions, and executing, as long as he had full support of Russian military logistics. Prigozhin, often filmed with dozens of dead Wagner fighters at the front, complaining to media his outrage toward Putin and the old Russian guard for what Prigozhin considered incompetence & betrayal. Prigozhins rants, escalated to mutiny focused on change in Moscow. The mutiny was put down in negotiations with the Kremlin, and Wagner sought refuge in Belarus.  Prigozhins jet fuelled anger was likely caused in part by his battlefield exposure and survivors guilt for the men he sent into the meat grinder. Prigozhin often met with the families of soldiers killed under his command. Prigozhin appeared to be struggling with warfare related, psychological stress injuries. Putin dropped charges against Prigozhin for the mutiny but was being investigated for treason by the Russian government when a Wagner jet exploded mid air in August 2023, near Kuzhenkino in Tver Oblast. The Embraer Legacy 600 business jet was carrying; Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, Dmitry Utkin, Wagner Group’s co-founder and leader of military operations, Valery Chekalov, head of security and foreign logistics for the Group, as well as two Wagner veterans and two of Prigozhin’s bodyguards. The flight crew comprised a pilot, a co-pilot, and a flight attendant. Putin denied assassination, and blamed the catastrophic failure of the aircraft on Wagner passengers, citing alcohol use, grenade fragments in the bodies, and packages of cocaine on board. Cursory investigations were haphazard and reports altered. Embraer aviation investigators were not allowed to examine the aircraft. Basic tests were never conducted to rule out anything other than Putins narrative.

Images of Prigozhin in disguise post Moscow mutiny courtesy of dekkbi.com

Image of Dmitry Utkin courtesy of Global News & Grey Zone

Image of Dmitry Utkin courtesy of X

Resources

The identities of Wagner mercenaries lost in a Mali ambush revealed-Reuters-Filipp Lebedev, Felix Light and Jessica Donati (2024) https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/wagner-lost-veteran-fighters-mali-ambush-setback-russias-africa-campaign-2024-09-11/

The New ‘Africa Corps’: Russia’s Wagner Rebranding-Energy Intel-Scott Ritter (2024) https://www.energyintel.com/0000018f-a9d5-d735-a98f-fbdda67a0000

Russia’s Africa Corps – more than old wine in a new bottle-Institute for Security Studies-Nicodemus Mine (2024) https://issafrica.org/iss-today/russias-africa-corps-more-than-old-wine-in-a-new-bottle

Wagner in Africa: How the Russian mercenary group has rebranded-BBC-Joe Inwood & Jake Tacchi (2024) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68322230

War ‘tour’, football and graffiti: How Russia is trying to influence Africa-BBC-Chiagozie Nwonwu, Fauziyya Tukur, Olaronke Alo & Maria Korenyuk (2024)  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3lky7z7eo

More control, less deniability: what next for Russia in Africa after Wagner? The Guardian-Eromo Egbejule (2024)https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/21/what-next-for-russia-in-africa-after-wagner-moscow-influence

AFRICA FILE SPECIAL EDITION: RUSSIA’S AFRICA CORPS ARRIVES IN NIGER. WHAT’S NEXT? ISW Staff (2024) https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/africa-file-special-edition-russia’s-africa-corps-arrives-niger-what’s-next

What to know about Russia’s growing influence in Africa-PBS-Mark Banchereau & Jessica Donato (2024) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-russias-growing-influence-in-africa

Brief: Russia’s Africa Corps Appears to Be Recruiting African Militants-Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 22 Issue: 9-Jamestown Foundation-Jacob Zenn (2024) https://jamestown.org/program/brief-russias-africa-corps-appears-to-be-recruiting-african-militants/

The Bear Brigade, the Kremlin’s new paramilitary outfit in Africa-Le Monde-Thomas Eydoux & Benjamin Roger (2024) https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2024/07/14/the-bear-brigade-the-kremlin-s-new-paramilitary-outfit-in-africa_6684180_124.html

Meet Mad Vlad’s Afrika Korps-The Hill-MARK TOTH AND JONATHAN SWEET (2024) https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/4729712-meet-mad-vlads-afrika-korps/

With Bear Brigade, Russia Boosts Brutal Sahel Footprint-ADF Magazine-ADF Staff (2024) https://adf-magazine.com/2024/08/with-bear-brigade-russia-boosts-brutal-sahel-footprint/

The Wagner Group Lives on in Africa-Lawfare-Marcel Plichta, Christopher Faulkner, Raphael Parens (2024) https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-wagner-group-lives-on-in-africa

Dozens of Russian mercenaries killed in rebel ambush in Mali, in their worst known loss in Africa-CNN-Tim Lister, Avery Schmitz and Darya Tarasova (2024) https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/africa/russian-mercenaries-wagner-killed-mali-intl-latam/index.html

Little Green Men