In an article published on Saturday April 8, the washington post dissects a series of confidential US documents that leaked earlier this month. On this basis, the newspaper details, among other things, certain practices of Russia and the Wagner group in several African countries.
After the document leak secret–defense revealed by the New York Timesthe United States says it is in the process of assessing the risks to its national security. These documents indeed reveal part of the backstage of American espionage in these times of war in Ukraine. They formally demonstrate that the American intelligence services have infiltrated the Russian army, up to the military command, whose objective was, among other things, to manipulate public opinion, particularly in Africa.
According to washington post, who was able to consult part of these confidential documents, the American services had knowledge of internal projects of the GRU, the General Directorate of Intelligence of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, in particular the preparation of a propaganda campaign in several African countries. It was reportedly intended to discredit the United States and France and to sway public opinion against leaders supporting aid to Ukraine. According to a report by the American services, consulted by the washington postthe objective of Russian military intelligence was also to propagate in African media accounts unfavorable to Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Wagner reportedly sought to buy Turkish weapons for actions in Mali
Another aspect of this leak, a confidential American document shows that the Wagner group sought to buy Turkish weapons. At the beginning of February, employees of the Russian paramilitary group met with Turkish contacts to acquire weapons and equipment for the group’s actions in Ukraine and also in Mali. The report indicates, again according to the washington postthat the president of the transition, Assimi Goïta, confirmed that Mali could buy arms from Turkey in the name of “Vagner”, spelling used in the report.
The note, which is supposed to remain confidential, however, does not clearly say what the level of knowledge of the Turkish government authorities was about this move – Turkey is an official ally of NATO – and whether the transaction was completed.