The Robert Lansing Institute, an American nonprofit public policy research group, published on 30 September 2025 a detailed report titled "Russia's Africa Corps: Wagner's Successor in Africa (2022-2025)."
This in-depth account concludes that the Africa Corps has effectively taken over the Wagner Group's Africa program since late 2023. The Africa Corps maintains a presence in the CAR, Mali, Libya, Sudan, Niger, and Burkina Faso. It has a small engagement in Equatorial Guinea and prospective deals in Togo, Benin, and Cameroon.
The shift from the Wagner Group to the Africa Corps marked an effort to align African operations with Russia's state strategy. The goals of securing allies, resources, and strategic positioning remain, but the execution is now more systematic and overtly tied to the Kremlin. The Africa Corps is the beginning of a more ambitious Russian expeditionary posture.
