Russian authorities announced that Yevgeny Prigozhin was aboard the plane that crashed on Wednesday near Moscow, with no survivors, two months after he led an unfinished rebellion against senior military officers. The Wagner Group, a Russian private military company headed by Prigozhin, staged a rebellion on June 23-24 that cast doubt on the fate of its extensive network involved in various military and commercial activities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The following are facts about Wagner and its areas of operation:
*Ukraine:*
Wagner deployed in Ukraine shortly after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. By summer, the military group had recruited thousands of prisoners to fight on the front lines. By December, while playing a key role in the battle for Bakhmut, U.S. intelligence reported that the military group had 40,000 recruited prisoners fighting in Ukraine. The group's leaders took credit for Russia's successes in Bakhmut and criticized the regular Russian army and the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense, echoing claims of corruption and incompetence in conducting the war.
*Belarus:*
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, arrived in Belarus under an agreement negotiated by its president, Alexander Lukashenko. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the group's fighters would be offered the option to relocate there. Satellite images of a military base near Asipovichy, southeast of Minsk, indicate what appears to be a new development suggesting a rapid expansion of facilities for Wagner. However, since the announcement of the Belarus agreement, which reportedly also guarantees Prigozhin’s personal safety, he appears to have moved freely within Russia.
*Syria:*
Russia officially began its military operations in Syria in 2015 in support of President Bashar al-Assad. It deployed airpower from Khmeimim Air Base and used contractors including Wagner in some ground operations and security roles, with hundreds of them killed in Syria in 2018. The group was responsible for providing security for the al-Shayrat oil field, and Western officials say that Wagner owns Afrovopolis, which receives 25% of the profits from several Syrian oil fields. Wagner recruited former fighters from the Syrian armed opposition in areas retaken by Assad to use as mercenaries in Libya since 2019. Khmeimim Air Base became a critical logistical hub for Wagner, serving as a transit point for flights to Russia and Libya. Sources indicated that its operations in Syria were swiftly transitioned to the Russian state following the June rebellion, with the group's fighters' contracts transferred to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
*Libya:*
Wagner entered Libya in 2019 to assist the Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar in eastern Libya in his attack on Tripoli to oust the internationally recognized government. The U.S. Department of Defense stated in 2020 that the UAE appeared to be financing Wagner's support for Haftar. U.N. sanctions monitors reported in 2020 that Wagner deployed approximately 1,200 personnel in Libya, and U.S. Africa Command noted that Russian military aircraft provided supplies to Wagner fighters there. Wagner operated air defense systems and fighter aircraft from al-Jufrah Air Base south of Tripoli, with some warplanes arriving from Khmeimim. In addition to recruiting Syrians, Wagner collaborated with foreign fighters from Sudan, Chad, and other locations. Although Haftar's offensive ended in failure with a ceasefire in 2020, Wagner remained in Libya, maintaining a presence at al-Jufrah and other air bases in the south and east, which researchers say are used as springboards to other locations in Africa. The group also operated for some time around major oil fields, with researchers indicating that it has commercial interests in Libya involving energy production and local smuggling networks.
*Central African Republic:*
The Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest countries despite its rich mineral wealth. Russian mercenaries, including Wagner members, intervened in 2018 alongside the government to quell a civil war ongoing since 2012. The Russian ambassador to the Central African Republic stated in a February interview with state-owned Russian media that 1,890 "Russian trainers" are present in the country. Analysts indicate that Wagner has secured rights to logging and control over a gold mine in the republic. The United States imposed sanctions on a company in the Central African Republic among others, including one from the UAE, stating these companies are involved in financing Wagner through illicit gold transactions.
*Mali:*
Russia and Mali have stated that Russian fighters there are not mercenaries but trainers assisting local forces in countering Islamist militants who have waged a ten-year insurgency. Malian leaders seized power in a coup in 2021 and called in the Wagner Group after requesting the departure of French military forces. Reuters reported in 2021 that the government contracts Wagner directly and pays about $10.8 million per month for its services. Wagner fighters have been accused of involvement in an incident last year in Moura, central Mali, where local forces and Russian fighters allegedly killed hundreds of civilians.
*Sudan:*
Western diplomats and nations claim that Wagner is involved in gold mining, spreading disinformation, and orchestrating schemes to suppress pro-democracy protests in Sudan, as Russia seeks to influence events before and after the ousting of Omar al-Bashir in 2019. Moscow maintains relations with both sides of the conflict that erupted on April 15 in Sudan, but Wagner is believed to be keeping ties with the Rapid Support Forces rather than the army. Wagner denied operating in Sudan, stating its personnel have not been present there for over two years and denies any role in the fighting. However, the United States accused Wagner in May of providing the Rapid Support Forces with surface-to-air missiles, "which contributed to prolonging an armed conflict that only leads to further chaos in the region."
