Russia Says Plan to Boost Role in Africa Includes 'Sensitive' Security Ties
Russia plans to step up cooperation with African countries, including in "sensitive areas" such as defense and security, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Russian mercenary group Wagner said last week it was leaving Mali after helping the military junta there in its fight with militants. But the Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled paramilitary force, said it would remain in the west African country, Reuters said.
Asked what this meant for Russia's role in Africa, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The Russian presence in Africa is growing. We really intend to comprehensively develop our interaction with African countries, focusing primarily on economic and investment interaction.
"This also corresponds to and extends to such sensitive areas as defense and security. In this regard, Russia will also continue interaction and cooperation with African states."
Russia's growing security role in parts of the continent, including in countries such as Mali, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, is viewed with concern by the West, and has come at the expense of France and the United States.
Russia's Africa Corps was created with the Russian Defense Ministry's support after Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed mutiny against the Russian army leadership in June 2023 and were killed two months later in a plane crash.
About 70-80% of the Africa Corps is made up of former Wagner members, according to several Telegram chats used by Russian mercenaries seen by Reuters.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
NATO chief calls for ‘quantum leap' in defense and says Russia could attack in 5 years
LONDON: NATO members need to increase their air and missile defenses by 400 percent to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance said Monday, warning that Moscow could be ready to attack it within five Mark Rutte said during a visit to London that he expects the 32 NATO members to agree to a big hike in military spending at a summit in the Netherlands this at the Chatham House think tank, Rutte said Russia is outpacing the far bigger NATO in producing ammunition, and the alliance must take a 'quantum leap' in collective defense.'Wishful thinking will not keep us safe,' Rutte said. 'We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.'Rutte has proposed a target of 3.5 percent of economic output on military spending and another 1.5 percent on 'defense-related expenditure' such as roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports. He said he is confident the alliance will agree to the target at its summit in The Hague on June the moment, 22 of the 32 members meet or exceed NATO's current 2 percent target, which was set in 2014. Rutte said he expects all to reach 2 percent by the end of this new target would meet a demand by US President Donald Trump that member states spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Trump has long questioned the value of NATO and complained that the US provides security to European countries that don't contribute said he agreed that 'America has carried too much of the burden for too long.'Rutte said NATO needs thousands more armored vehicles and millions more artillery shells, as well as a 400 percent increase in air and missile defense.'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,' he said.'Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years,' Rutte added. 'We are all on the eastern flank now.'Rutte also held talks Monday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and praised the UK's commitment to increase defense spending as 'very good stuff.' Starmer has pledged to boost military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2027 and to 3 percent by other NATO members, the UK has been reassessing its defense spending since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February NATO members, led by the UK and France, have scrambled to coordinate their defense posture as Trump transforms American foreign policy, seemingly sidelining Europe as he looks to end the war in week the UK government said it would build new nuclear-powered attack submarines, prepare its army to fight a war in Europe and become 'a battle-ready, armor-clad nation.' The plans represent the most sweeping changes to British defenses since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
'Mum, I'm home!' Russia and Ukraine Exchange Prisoners of War
Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners of war under the age of 25 on Monday in emotional homecoming scenes, the first step in a series of planned prisoner swaps that could become the biggest of the war so far. The exchange was the result of direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul on June 2 that resulted in an agreement to exchange at least 1,200 POWs on each side and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in Russia's war in Ukraine. The return of POWs and the repatriation of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have managed to agree on as broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending the war, now in its fourth year. Fighting has raged on, with Russia saying on Monday its forces had taken control of more territory in Ukraine's east-central region of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv saying Moscow had launched its largest drone attack of the war. Officials in Kyiv said some of the Ukrainian prisoners who came home on Monday had been in Russian captivity since the beginning of the war. At a rendezvous point for the returning Ukrainian prisoners, soon after they crossed back into northern Ukraine, an official handed one of the freed men a cellphone so that he could call his mother, a video released by Ukrainian authorities showed. "Hi mum, I've arrived, I'm home!" the soldier shouted into the receiver, struggling to catch his breath because he was overcome by emotion. The released Ukrainian men were later taken by bus to a hospital in northern Ukraine where they were to have medical checks and be given showers, food and care packages including mobile phones and shoes. Jubilation was tinged with sadness because outside the hospital were crowds of people, mostly women, looking for relatives who went missing while fighting for Ukraine. The women held up pictures of the missing men in the hope that one of the returning POWs would recognized them and share details about what happened to them. Some hoped their loved ones would be among those released. Oksana Kupriyenko, 52, was holding up an image of her son, Denys, who went missing in September 2024. "Tomorrow is my birthday and I was hoping God will give me a gift and return my son to me," she said, through tears. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE Neither side said how many prisoners had been swapped on Monday, but the Russian Defense Ministry said in its own statement that the same number of military personnel had been exchanged on each side. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said at the weekend that a first list of 640 POWs had been handed to Ukraine. The Russian military said its returned servicemen were now in Belarus, a close Russian ally, where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance before being transferred to Russia for further care. Footage broadcast by Russia's RIA state news agency showed a group of freed Russian soldiers on board a coach raising their hands in the air and shouting: "Hurrah we're home." The same group was shown holding a Russian flag and chanting "Russia! Russia!" before boarding the coach. "It is very difficult to convey what I'm feeling inside now. But I am very happy, proud and grateful to everyone who took part in this process, in the exchange and bringing us home," said one freed Russian soldier. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country had received a first group of prisoners from Russia and that it would take several days to complete the swap. Both sides say the intention for this round of prisoner swaps is also to hand over people who are gravely ill or severely injured. The people seen being handed over so far on Monday appeared to be fit and well. "Today's exchange has begun. It will be done in several stages in the coming days," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. "The process is quite complex, with many sensitive details, and negotiations continue virtually every day. We count on the full implementation of the humanitarian agreements reached during the meeting in Istanbul. We are doing everything possible to bring back every single person."
Asharq Al-Awsat
6 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Russia Says Plan to Boost Role in Africa Includes 'Sensitive' Security Ties
Russia plans to step up cooperation with African countries, including in "sensitive areas" such as defense and security, the Kremlin said on Monday. Russian mercenary group Wagner said last week it was leaving Mali after helping the military junta there in its fight with militants. But the Africa Corps, a Kremlin-controlled paramilitary force, said it would remain in the west African country, Reuters said. Asked what this meant for Russia's role in Africa, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The Russian presence in Africa is growing. We really intend to comprehensively develop our interaction with African countries, focusing primarily on economic and investment interaction. "This also corresponds to and extends to such sensitive areas as defense and security. In this regard, Russia will also continue interaction and cooperation with African states." Russia's growing security role in parts of the continent, including in countries such as Mali, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, is viewed with concern by the West, and has come at the expense of France and the United States. Russia's Africa Corps was created with the Russian Defense Ministry's support after Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and commander Dmitry Utkin led a failed mutiny against the Russian army leadership in June 2023 and were killed two months later in a plane crash. About 70-80% of the Africa Corps is made up of former Wagner members, according to several Telegram chats used by Russian mercenaries seen by Reuters.
