Wagner Group Head Praises Niger Coup and Offers Support

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian private military group Wagner, praised the military coup in Niger, calling it good news and offered his fighters' services to restore order. Prigozhin's support for the coup was conveyed in a voice message broadcasted by Wagner channels on Telegram, where he did not mention any involvement of the group in the coup, describing it as a "long-awaited moment of liberation from Western colonizers" and seemingly calling on his fighters to assist in maintaining order. The message, published Thursday evening, stated, "What happened in Niger was just the struggle of the Nigerien people against their colonizers, against the colonizers who seek to impose their ways of life and conditions on them, keeping them in the state Africa has been in for hundreds of years." Analysts noted that Prigozhin's appearance indicates that his group will continue to play a role in advancing Russia's foreign policy agenda in Africa.