African legion is Russia’s newest tool to advance its regional agenda

Diplomatic Courier has published an article claiming that Russia is replacing the Wagner Group in Africa with a new, less independent paramilitary group called the African Legion. The goal is to better place Russia for its confrontation with the West, and there could be major repercussions for the region and the world. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

Since Yevgeny Prigozhins, the Wagner Group chief’s, mysterious death in a plane crash in August 2023, the Wagner Group—a Russian paramilitary organization conducting foreign operations—has undergone a process of restructuring and transformation. In early 2024, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti announced the formation of the African Legion, also known as Africa Corps, which will replace the Wagner Group in Africa. The Wagner Group is a Russian–backed paramilitary force involved in activities in Africa and other crucial geopolitical scenarios.

The new group will operate mainly in Sub–Saharan Africa with a headquarters in Libya; it aims to advance Moscow's goals on the continent and pursue broader geopolitical interests in the confrontation with the West. Energy, trade, and migration flows are critical issues in this area, with the latter significantly impacting European politics, especially during the election period. Russia pushed for this transformation to reduce the previously granted independence to the Wagner Group and will exercise more direct control over the African Legion.

The African Legion will comprise about 50,000 members, most of whom will come from former Wagner Group and other private security agencies with experience in the African continent. The Russian Defence Ministry will fund and exert strict control over it. According to Newsweek, African Legion members will receive a minimum monthly salary of 280,000 rubles (about $3,100), higher than that previously earned by the Wagner Group's members.

The African Legion will station in Sub–Saharan countries like Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and the Central African Republic. These countries share with Russia a growing hostility toward the United States, NATO, and former colonial power France. However, the group’s headquarters will be in civil war–torn Libya due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean Sea.

Over the years, Russia has succeeded in exploiting Libya's domestic turmoil and fragilities—with Putin forming a personal relationship with Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control the Eastern part of his country—to penetrate the continent's South.

The African Legion was created following a series of meetings between Libyan and Russian representatives, including Putin and warlord Khalifa Haftar, starting in late 2023. During Putin and Haftar’s last meeting in September 2023, the General asked for more Russian support to sustain its military efforts in the current Libyan civil war. Even if official sources did not confirm, they likely discussed the future of Russian mercenaries in Libya after the death of Prigozhin.

Four months later, Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Yunus–bek Yevkurov visited Libya to advance the group's agenda and discuss using the coastal city of Tobruk as a base for Russian naval vessels. The former head of the Italian Armed Forces, Vincenzo Camporini, added that Russia could also install nuclear submarines there. This scenario could undermine the security architecture of the Mediterranean area, which is based on a de facto hegemony of the US.

Given the ties to Russia, the African Legion will have three primary goals. First, it will secure Russian interests abroad, which means strengthening control over foreign military bases, ports, etc., and exploiting mineral resource deposits. For example, Moscow started controlling gold mines in Mali and the Central African Republic through the Wagner Group years ago. This role will now likely be handed over to the African Legion.

Second, the African Legion will provide security and training services to African governments. For example, a unit composed of 100 Russian military specialists arrived in Burkina Faso earlier this year to protect the interim President, Ibrahim Traoré, from assassination attempts. Traoré took power with a coup in 2022 and increased military cooperation with Russia against domestic armed groups that aimed to overthrow him.

Furthermore, the African Legion will be able to influence migration flows in the Mediterranean Sea. In the past, this proved to be a potent tool for influencing European politics, especially during elections. Last month, The Telegraph revealed that Russia has a secret plan to establish a strong border police of about 15,000 people to control migrants' routes. This force could affect European elections by restricting or flooding the flow of people at some particularly critical moments.

Establishing the African Legion is part of a broader strategy to challenge Western influence over global politics. The area comprising the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and Sub–Saharan Africa is one of the crucial geopolitical scenarios where this confrontation occurs, given its centrality to military issues, energy migration flows, and trade routes. The African Legion will continue many of the Wagner Group's operations but with greater alignment with Russian foreign policy objectives because of its direct subordination to the Kremlin.