Moscow: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, told an African news outlet in an audio interview that was posted online earlier this week that the group is prepared to expand its presence in Africa.
Prigozhin told Afrique Media in Cameroon, "We aren't reducing (our presence), and we're ready to increase our various contingents. The phone interview was uploaded to YouTube, but as of late Friday, it had only received 1,400 views.
The audio's authenticity could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters, but a voice that sounded like Prigozhin's could be heard under a French translation.
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He claimed in the interview that Wagner was upholding all of its commitments on the continent and was eager to deepen its ties with its neighbours.
Wagner has participated in some of the bloodiest battles of the Ukraine War while fighting for Russia. However, Prigozhin's last month's brief mutiny and the Kremlin's announcement that he would depart for Belarus, where some of his fighters have begun instructing Belarusian forces, raised questions about its future function.
However, he was captured on camera this week in St. Petersburg during a summit between Russia and Africa, along with a reporter from Afrique Media.
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Prior to a constitutional referendum on July 30 that could result in President Faustin-Archange Touadera extending his term, Prigozhin confirmed to Afrique Media that a new rotation of Wagner forces had recently arrived in the Central African Republic.
He made no mention of the size of the force, only that "new forces have come, and we control the territory of the republic."
In order to put an end to a civil war that has raged since 2012, Russian mercenaries, many of whom are from Wagner, intervened in 2018 on the side of the CAR government.
Western governments, including France and the United States, are concerned about Wagner's involvement in the CAR, Mali, and other parts of Africa. Washington has sanctioned the group as a criminal organisation and accused it of committing widespread atrocities.
Prigozhin disputes that, asserting in the interview that all of Wagner's operations were legal and advantageous to the nations in which they took place as well as to those nations' relations with Russia.
