This provided him with unprecedented intelligence power. The Russian paramilitary group Wagner, long present in Ukraine and active in Africa, signed a contract with a Chinese company to acquire two observation satellites and order images, according to this document consulted by AFP.
According to a European security source, some of these images were even used by its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August in the crash of his plane, to prepare his mutiny in June, the greatest threat ever experienced by President Vladimir Putin in 20 years of power.