New video with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared online after a long time without any video messages from him. He asserts that his operatives are fostering greater freedom across the continent of Africa while also enlisting fresh combatants.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, at the helm of Russia’s Wagner faction, shared his inaugural video on social media this Monday after a hiatus since late June, when he and his mercenaries undertook a failed armed uprising.
⚡️#BREAKING Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in a video for the first time in a while, this time from Africa and invites people to join the ranks of Wagner PMC. pic.twitter.com/gSb8YaqMp9
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) August 21, 2023
In the footage, Prigozhin is depicted amidst a desert backdrop, clad in camouflage attire and gripping a firearm. In the distance, vehicles carrying armed personnel are discernible.
Reuters and AP acknowledged their inability to authenticate the video, though Prigozhin’s pronouncements and content on pro-Russian Telegram channels appear to position him as the head of Wagnerites on African soil.
“Temperature exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, everything in alignment with our preferences. Wagner’s group is engaged in (search and rescue operations). It’s contributing to the expansion of Russia and the heightened liberty of Africa across all continents,” Prigozhin conveys in the recording.
“We are turning existence into a torment for the African populace, impeding the activities of ISIS (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda, and other malefactors,” he appends.
As per Prigozhin’s account, the Wagner operatives are also dutifully “accomplishing the assigned objectives” and enlisting novel fighters into their ranks. The video is accompanied by a contact number.
Since Prigozhin spearheaded a brief rebellion against the Russian Defense Ministry in late June—an incident Reuters reports on—the fate of the Wagner group and its leader has remained enigmatic.
Following the swift offensive, which encompassed actions in Moscow, the Kremlin announced that Prigozhin and a portion of his mercenaries—who had participated in some of the most intense battles during the Ukrainian conflict—would relocate to Belarus. Their mandate involved training the Belarusian armed forces.
The Vagner operatives are known to operate in Mali, and as previously disclosed by AP with reference to an anonymous source, they have been solicited for assistance by the military junta governing Niger, which recently seized control through a coup.
Source: novinky.cz
