About this episode

The episode discusses the Wagner Group's operations and its successor, Africa Corps, with expert Candace Rondeaux.

Since its emergence in 2014, the Wagner Group operated as the Kremlin's shadow army, deploying mercenaries across Africa and the Middle East. It gave Vladimir Putin plausible deniability, expanding Moscow's geopolitical influence by propping up leaders through military assistance and securing Moscow's economic interests through weapons deals and access to natural resources. UN experts and human rights organizations accused the mercenaries of disappearances, torture, executions, mass graves, rape, and pillaging. Three years ago this week, its financier and leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a failed rebellion. He then died an untimely death, and Putin's security services moved to assert direct control of the paramilitary. This week, Sasha sits down with expert Candace Rondeaux to discuss Wagner's successor, Africa Corps, which has kept the expeditionary force in Africa and Ukraine. The author of Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into Mercenary Chaos, she discusses Africa Corps' struggles and conquests as it helps keep Putin's war machine churning. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/…

People in this episode

Host: Sasha

Guest: Candace Rondeaux

Topics covered

• Wagner Group
• Russia
• mercenaries
• geopolitical influence
• Africa Corps
• Putin
• military assistance

Keywords

• Wagner Group
• Putin
• mercenaries
• Africa Corps
• geopolitical influence
• Candace Rondeaux
• military assistance
• Yevgeny Prigozhin
• Ukraine

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Wagner Group, Kremlin, UN, International Spy Museum

Books & works: Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into Mercenary Chaos

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