Russian mercenaries accompany a soldier in northern Mali.
French Army via AP
Dozens of Russian fighters were killed in confrontation with rebel groups in Mali amid speculation that Ukrainian intelligence played a role.
Facing charges: Russia’s deputy defence minister, Timur Ivanov.
EPA-EFE/Moscow City Court Press Handout
The constant jockeying for power among Putin’s subordinates serves the Russian president’s purpose.
Vladimir Putin isn’t waving goodbye just yet.
Pavel Bednyakov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
A West Point professor of Russian politics and foreign policy looks at the future of Russia without Putin.
A makeshift memorial for the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August 2023.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images
Will the Wagner Group under new leadership uphold the ruthless modus operandi that propelled it to the spotlight in Africa?
The roof-capped cross standing on Evgeny Prigozhin’s stone bears a stark resemblance to those found in Old Believer cemeteries, golubets,
Olga Maltseva/AFP
A scholar in religious studies delves into the peculiar world of Rodnovery, a Russian neo-pagan movement that believes in Slavs’ civilising mission. Many in Wagner side with it.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late founder of the Russian private security company Wagner.
Wagner Account/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Russia is not interested in helping Africa to prosper or achieve stability, but as a theatre for advancing the Kremlin’s geostrategic interests.
The good old days: Wagner Group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rose to prominence after being a Kremlin catering boss.
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
EPA-EFE/Anatoly Maltsev
Russia was using the mercenary group to further its foreign policy aims in west Africa. There’s no reason to think Prigozhin’s death will change that.
People carry a body bag away from the wreckage of a crashed private jet near the Russian village of Kuzhenkinoi on Aug. 24, 2023. Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died in the crash along with nine other people.
(AP Photo)
The core members of the Wagner Group, who are loyal to the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, will likely seek revenge against Vladimir Putin for his death. Is the Russian leader now living on borrowed time?
Face masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin displayed at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia. Prigozhin reportedly died in a plane crash on Aug. 23.
(AP Photo, File)
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died when a private jet he was said to be on crashed on Aug. 23, 2023, killing all 10 people on board.
AAP/AP/Razgruzka_Vagnera telegram channel
The apparent death of the warlord in a plane shot down over Russia tells us much about the fragility that surrounds Russian politics.
Wagner Group boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rose through the ranks from Vladimir Putin’s caterer to the boss of Russia’s most powerful private military company.
Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
The Wagner Group boss had died in mysterious circumstances when his private jet crashed on August 23 2023.
Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, photographed on June 24, 2023, in Russia.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The lesson in the presumed death of the mercenary leader two months after his mutiny against Putin: Don’t make yourself an enemy of Russia’s leader.
A Ukrainian soldier on territory recaptured from Russia in July 2023.
EPA-EFE/Oleg Petrasyuk
A selection of the best of our coverage of the conflict from the past fortnight.
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
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
Wagner Group mercenaries in Belarus remain a worrying wild card with possible consequences for the conflict and the wider region.
Vasily Deryugin/Kommersant Publishing House/AP
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
The Russia-Africa summit has obvious benefits for Moscow: it conveys a perception of normalcy and the tacit approval of African elites.
Face masks depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and owner of private military company Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin.
AP Photo
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.
Contributor/Getty Images
The revolt by Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops put the US in an unusual situation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.