Video appears to show Wagner Group troops preparing to leave Africa suggesting a purge by Moscow report says
Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
- A video appears to show dozens of Wagner Group soldiers preparing to leave Africa.
- Regional publication Jeune Afrique had reported hundreds of the mercenaries leaving the continent.
- It could suggest a purge following leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted armed rebellion.
Some Wagner Group soldiers appear to be pulling out of Africa, a sign that Moscow may be purging the mercenary organization.
Video footage obtained by NBC News this week showed dozens of the group's troops at a military base in Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR) gathered near a helipad and sorting through equipment. The video follows a report by Jeune Afrique that said 500 to 600 mercenaries had left Bangui on Thursday.
"Purges are very likely, as loyalty is the hot-button issue of the moment for Putin," Atlantic Council think tank senior fellow Alia Brahimi told NBC News.
Wagner has provided security services and military support across Africa in the past to boost the Kremlin's propaganda efforts, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The mercenaries are particularly active in the CAR, Libya, Mali, and Sudan, per the US-based think tank.
But Wagner's relationship with the Kremlin has fractured in recent weeks after the group's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin ordered his soldiers to march on Moscow in June.
Prigozhin later called off his attempted mutiny after he reportedly negotiated a deal with the aid of Belarus president Aleksander Lukashenko. But President Vladimir Putin has subsequently started cracking down on suspected Prigozhin allies.
Wagner mercenaries have been accused of committing atrocities
Prigozhin Press Service via Associated Press
An adviser to Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Fidele Gouandjika, said there had been "no change" in Wagner's position in the country, per NBC News.
The Wagner soldiers pictured leaving Africa had refused to sign new contracts with Russia's defense ministry, according to a Sky News report that cited senior sources in the CAR's Department of Defense.
Between 1,300 and 1,400 Wagner troops remain in the country, an official told the outlet.
Wagner mercenaries have been accused of committing atrocities in CAR, according to reports.
Prigozhin's group has been "perfecting a nightmarish blueprint for state capture" in the CAR, according to Washington-based anti-corruption organization The Sentry, per Sky News, and was helping to plunder the country's national resources, including gold and diamonds.
Since 2019, militiamen have reportedly been trained by Wagner personnel in "ultraviolent" torture and killing techniques, including cutting fingers and legs, removing nails, strangling, throwing fuel, and burning people alive, said The Sentry
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