Russian mercenaries fight shadowy battle in gas-rich Mozambique
CNN)A deployment of Russian guns-for-hire, with links to the Kremlin, has sustained casualties in its fight against Islamist militants in Mozambique, multiple sources have told CNN.
In another example of Russia's growing reach into Africa, dozens of private military contractors are aiding the Mozambique army which is battling an insurgency in its northernmost province.
Russia's 'troll factory' is alive and well in Africa
Russia's 'troll factory' is alive and well in Africa
The mercenaries in this resource-rich southern African country appear associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg oligarch so close to the Kremlin that he is known as President Vladimir Putin's "chef."
Prigozhin, whose reach in the region stretches into Sudan, Libya and the Central African Republic, is thought to be the financier of the Wagner group, hundreds of whose fighters have also been deployed into Syria. His companies have been previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for their actions in Syria and his financing of the Internet Research Agency, which was responsible for Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 US elections.
Prigozhin has routinely denied any connection to Wagner.
The fast-expanding insurgency in Mozambique threatens to disrupt crucial foreign investment in the country's natural gas reserves, believed to be worth billions of dollars.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/11/29/africa/russian-mercenaries-mozambique-intl/index.html
Russia expands it's influence, while we are shackled with isolationist policies, and a gutted State Department
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