The United States said on Friday it was concerned about the Russian Wagner Group's destabilizing activities in Africa and accused the leader of the mercenary force of helping to engineer the departure of U.N. peacekeepers from Mali.
Founder of Wagner private mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves a cemetery before the funeral of a Russian military blogger who was killed in a bomb attack in a St Petersburg cafe, in Moscow, Russia, April 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova//File Photo
than $200 million to Wagner since late 2021, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters., who led an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin last weekend, helped engineer the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as MINUSMA, "to further Wagner's interests." Two days before, the country's interim president, Colonel Assimi Goita, said on Twitter he was very satisfied with a phone call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he described as "direct and sincere".aborted armed mutinyKirby's comments marked another step in the U.S. effort to push back against Wagner's influence in Africa. The U.S.
Both Russia and Mali have said Russian fighters there are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops fight a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants.
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