But you don’t see “big changes in the battlefield”
Russia is replacing a relentless paramilitary group with an African replica that can control. What is Putin’s plan?
by Nimi PrincewillCNN
Wagner, a dreaded group of Russian mercenaries known for the failed attempt to riot against Moscow and accused of severe civil abuse in Africa, is being replaced on the African continent by another Russian paramilitary group.
The successor, the experts say, is the African body, controlled by Kremlin.
For years, Wagner, funded by the Russian government and praised by Vladimir Putin in 2023 for his “courage and heroism”, was the Moscow Military Face at Sahel, a semi-arid region of the West and Centro-North Africa from Senegal to Sudan.
With the departure of Wagner from vast areas of the region, plagued by recurring state blows, armed rebellions and extremist insurgency, it seems that Kremlin wants a controlled but unofficial army to replace it.
Putin revealed at a 2023 Russian-Africa summit that Kremlin had “signed a technical-technical cooperation agreements with more than 40 African countries, to which we provided a wide range of weapons and equipment.”
Kremlin is, to some extent, to fill a void left by Western troops, which were expelled by several Sahel governments between 2022 and 2025, in a context of anto -adhesive feelings that reverberate the region.
At a time when the West has focused on other areas -from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine to tensions with China -Russia has become a security partner wanted both inside and outside Sahel.
In parts of the region, such as Mali, where Wagner suffered some of his worst known defeats, with dozens of dead in a rebel attack a year ago, his forces joined the local armies in the fight against insurgents.
What is known about the African body
Wagner’s successor is not autonomous. Unlike the mercenaries group, the African body is under the scope of the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to the group’s official channel on Telegram.
The body consists of elite commanders of the Russian army. The “priority” in recruitment was also given to Wagner’s current and old combatants, revealed a publication of the African body channel on Telegram in January 2024.
The operatives of the African body have already entered the battlefield, performing joint operations with the Mali army against militia groups.
In June, Wagner announced his departure from Mali, one of Sahel’s most problematic countries, saying he had fulfilled a three -and -a -half year mission to combat insurgents in the African country led by a board.
A similar exit from Wagner has been suggested in the Central African Republic (RCA), the epicenter of the group in Africa.
Wagner operates in RCA since 2018 and has become the dominant force in the country after the final departure of the French troops in 2022. It is widely credited with RCA for helping the country avoid collapse.
Earlier this month, however, RCA military authorities told the Associated Press that the Russian Ministry of Defense asked the country’s authorities to replace Wagner with the African body and to pay for their cash services.
Payment to Wagner for military services to RCA-which include protecting the president, recovering rebel territories, and keeping armed groups at a distance-“is done extremely hidden and discreetly” by the RCA government, in January told CNN Martin Ziguélé, opposition deputy and former Prime Minister (2001-2003).
Therefore, it is not clear how Wagner’s services are paid. Still, previous CNN investigations found that companies linked to the former Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin leader had obtained concessions to explore gold and diamonds in RCA, where nearly 70% of the population lives in extreme poverty-the fifth highest rate in the world, according to World Bank assessment in 2023.
Prigozhin died in a plane crash northwest of Moscow in August 2023, two months after launching a failed riot against Russian military leadership.
Neither a government spokesman nor the RCA defense or communication ministers responded to CNN commentary on the alleged planned move to the African body. CNN also received no response from the Russian authorities.
Communication Minister Maxime Balalou told CNN that a bilateral defense agreement “allowed Russia to provide us with weapons,” as well as “training and training for our defense and security forces, and assistance to our armed forces on the field.”
The African body has already reached other parts of Africa, according to the group’s channel on Telegram, operating in western African nations such as Niger and Burquina Faso, both governed by joints.
It is not known if the body operates in Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa, which, according to a report by last year’s Reuters, houses about 200 Russian military instructors. Equatorial Guinea has had the same ruler for 46 years.
Putin want to do what different?
The replacement of Wagner in Africa can be a “strategic reformulation by Moscow,” according to Héni Nsaibia, senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Project (Acled) crisis monitoring group.
“With the name Wagner severely stained after the riot and the death of Prigozhin, Russia is likely to be consolidating its foreign military operations under formal state control, eliminating the ‘Wagner’ brand but keeping its central functions under a new name – like the African body,” says Nsaibia in writing to CNN.
“This way,” he adds, “Moscow can distance himself from the mercenary narrative while maintaining a strong presence in the region.”
The institutionalization of military involvement in Africa can benefit Kremlin in other ways, explains Nsaibia.
“The African body intends to give Moscow greater control over operations, potentially more international legitimacy and less legal and reputational risks,” he says.
Wagner faced lawsuits by human rights groups due to accusations of abuse.
The European Union sanctioned the Wagner group and individuals and entities linked to it in 2021 and 2023. Among those sanctioned in 2023 were “Wagner’s head in Mali, where mercenaries have been involved in acts of violence and multiple human rights abuse, including extrajudicial executions, as well as several high -profile members of the RCA,” said the EU council.
United Nations experts requested an independent investigation into alleged crimes committed by Wagner and the Malian army.
His statement stated that “the lack of transparency and ambiguity about Wagner’s legal status creates a general climate of terror and total impunity for the victims of the group’s abuse.”
Mali’s authorities refuted the allegations, saying that the country “has been firm in the persecution and punishment of proven perpetrators of human rights violations.”
Although many doubts remain on Wagner’s operations in Africa, there are divided opinions on the impact that their operations against terrorism with local armies had on the continent.
“I don’t see what Wagner brought to the battle (against terrorists),” says security consultant Mamadou Adje.
“Since they (forces of Wagner) entered the fight, the Jiadtists have spread through Mali, Burquina Faso and Niger, with many casualties,” says Adje, a retired Senegal colonel who previously served in Mali and Burquina Faso under the economic community of West Africa (Cede), to CNN.
As for the replacement of Wagner with the African body in certain countries, “I see no big change in the battlefield,” says Adje.
In Nsaibia’s opinion, Wagner helped Mali’s army to “reach some tactical and strategic victories, namely the reconquest of rebel strongholds.”
However, he adds, the group leaves “a state by the collapse.”
Earlier this month, United Nations Delegates told the Security Council that safety in the Sahel “is quickly deteriorating” and that terrorist activity in parts of the region intensified “at scale, complexity and sophistication, including through drones use, alternative internet communications and increasing transnational organized crime”.
Ahunna Eziakonwa, assistant to the United Nations Secretary-General and Director for Africa of the UN Development Program (UNDP), warns that safety problems at Sahel “are beyond the capacity of national governments” and that global support is required.
What matters, however, is that any foreign aid is “well intention,” he tells CNN, adding: “We do not promote any kind of support in the military or security sector that harms human rights, regardless of its origin.”
