Wagner Group’s Prigozhin Makes Headlines with African Leaders at Russia Summit
After a turbulent last month that saw him going into exile in Belarus following a botched mutiny against Moscow, Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was spotted socializing with African leaders at the Africa-Russia summit in St Petersburg.
In a picture uploaded on Facebook by Wagner operations manager Dmitri Syty, Prigozhin can be seen shaking hands with Ambassador Freddy Mapouka, a senior official from the Central African Republic (CAR).
This meeting comes after Prigozhin’s failed mutiny against Russian leadership and his reported control of key military sites in Rostov, where his mercenary fighters were seen roaming the streets with military equipment.
After the mutiny, Prigozhin and his companions reportedly met with President Vladimir Putin, where the president assessed Wagner’s actions during the Special Military Operation in Ukraine and the events of the mutiny.
During the Africa-Russia Summit, Putin expressed readiness to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa both commercially and as aid to help prevent a global food crisis. He offered to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea with 25-50,000 tonnes of free grain each in the next three to four months.
Russia’s recent decision to no longer participate in a UN-brokered agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea to Africa may worsen the commodities crisis. The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, aimed to alleviate the global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blocked by the Russia-Ukraine conflict to be exported safely. Under this arrangement, Ukraine had exported nearly 33 million metric tons of corn, wheat, and other grains.
