Radio Free Europe published on 7 December 2023 an article titled "With Wagner in Disarray, A Russian Diplomat with Spy Links Surfaces in the Central African Republic" by Mark Krutov, Sergei Dobrynin, and Maja Zivanovic.
A former Kremlin envoy to the European Union whom European diplomats link to Russian intelligence has been dispatched to the Central African Republic to oversee coordination between the Wagner mercenary group and local security forces.
The New York Times published on 8 September 2023 an article titled "After Prigozhin's Death, A High-Stakes Scramble for His Empire" by Anton Troianovski, Declan Walsh, Eric Schmitt, Vivian Yee, and Julian E. Barnes.
The Wagner Group under Yevgeniy Prigozhin had Russia's most effective fighting force in Ukraine, an online "troll farm" that was instrumental in undercutting democratic institutions around the world, and mercenaries in Africa and Syria that propped up autocrats and helped increase Russian influence.
Two Russian intelligence services, the foreign intelligence service (SVR) and military intelligence agency (GRU), are vying to take over parts of the Wagner operation. The SVR is looking to assume control of the propaganda and disinformation component and the GRU the mercenary operation.
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