Wagner Group activities in Africa
The Wagner Group is a Russian state-funded paramilitary organization, also described as a private military company (PMC) and as a network of mercenaries. Since 2017, it has provided military support, security and protection for several governments in Africa. In return, Russian and Wagner-linked companies have been given privileged access to those countries' natural resources, such as rights to gold and diamond mines, while the Russian military has been given access to strategic locations such as airbases and ports.
In the case of the Central African Republic, Bohumil Doboš of the Institute of Political Studies in Prague described Wagner's operation in that country as a neo-imperialist and neo-colonial kind of state capture.
