The Wagner Group and Africa Corps

The Wagner Group is a Russian private military company (PMC) created by Dmitry Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin to engage in covert military operations outside of Russia. The group started operating during Russia’s proxy war in Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014, which allowed President Vladimir Putin to deny Russian troops’ involvement in the conflict. The group made a shift to becoming a more direct arm of Russian foreign policy following the death of key leadership, including Utkin and Prigozhin, in August 2023 after their failed mutiny against Moscow. Since then, prominent figures in the Russian Ministry of Defense have led the PMC, increasingly referred to as Africa Corps. While reports often refer to Wagner Group or Africa Corps as a cohesive entity, these names refer to a complex network of private military forces with support from the Russian state.

Beyond Ukraine, the Wagner Group has also been actively involved in conflicts in Syria and across the African continent. Its activities have become an influential form of Russian engagement in Africa where they are known to supply mercenary troops and for natural resource extraction. ACLED records political violence linked to the group’s involvement in the Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Sudan. The group has also been responsible for disinformation campaigns and political intervention in other areas, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, respectively, and has overtly supported military coups in the Sahel.