Vladimir Putin is trying to repair the damage done by his decision to pull out of the grain deal which had supplied many African countries.
EPA-EFE/Sergei Bobylev/Tass
Vladimir Putin is engaged in a bid to woo support among African leaders, but the summit masks the darker reality of Russian influence-seeking in Africa
Delegates at the Russia-Africa Economic Forum in Sochi, 2019.
Kremlin Press Office / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
African leaders at the second Africa-Russia summit need to speak with one voice.
Seeking divine help? Neither Moscow nor Minsk wants Wagner Group mercenaries stationed in Belarus to get out of control.
EPA-EFE/Alexander Demyanchuk/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Russia has long been a ‘paramilitarised’ regime, where the state can be challenged and undermined, but is not completely destroyed, by paramilitary or criminal groups.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa Summit in 2019 in Sochi, Russia.
Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Russian authorities have given no legitimate justification for dropping criminal cases against rebel troops – undermining both President Vladimir Putin and the legal system.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on June 29, less than a week after the rebellion by the mercenary Wagner Group.
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Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service
China has provided Russia with economic support during the war in Ukraine. But Beijing may be concerned over recent events in Moscow.
Ukrainian soldiers on a Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicle at their positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 25.
(Roman Chop via AP)
Euphoria in the West about the short-lived revolt by the Wagner Group hasn’t yet resulted in military gains for Ukraine.
10 tons of ammunition previously laid in civilian settlements by Libyan militia and Wagner group mercenaries .
Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Putin has ignored his own role in the transformation of Prigozhin from a convicted criminal into a formidable political force.
‘March for justice’: Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin poses for a picture with a supporter in the Russian city of Rostov.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The Russian president has been severely wounded by this open show of defiance. It remains to be seen whether Ukraine can take advantage of this weakness.
Open defiance in Rostov-on-Don.
Feodor Larin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Perhaps the gravest concern for Putin: having for years encouraged the Kremlin’s powerful elites to compete for his favour, he’s now given them a powerful reason to unite against him.
Wagner has assisted rebel leader Khalifa Hiftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces.
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The African Union (AU) and responsible African governments are likely to grow to resent the Wagner Group’s presence and regret their failure to oppose it.
A man takes down a poster reading Join us at Wagner in Russian amid an insurrection by the Wagner Group, a private military contractor, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 24.
(AP Photo)
If Vladimir Putin can shift blame for a failed war in Ukraine onto Wagner Group forces as they engage in an armed rebellion on Russian territory, it could provide him an escape hatch from Ukraine.