Who is Konstantin Pikalov, suspected of being the "Mr. Africa" ​​of the paramilitary group Wagner?

Colonel Konstantin Pikalov is believed to be behind the African affairs of the Wagner group, according to the Bellingcat investigation site. Bellingcat

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The Bellingcat investigation site revealed who would be in charge, in Africa, of the operations of the opaque Russian private military company attached to Yevgeny Prigojine, close to President Vladimir Putin.

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Behind the African affairs of the Wagner group, hides a retired high-ranking Russian soldier: Colonel Konstantin Pikalov. Its code name: Mazai. It is this man that the Bellingcat investigation site designates as Wagner's “Mr. Africa” . Political, military and political advice with the support of the Kremlin, but also training of local armies, the group is today present in at least twenty countries in Africa.

Present during the Malagasy presidential election

Mazai appears publicly for the first time in Africa in 2018, in Madagascar. The country is then in the middle of an election period. Christo Grozev, principal investigator of Bellingcat says he is placed alongside the presidential candidate, Pastor André Mailhol:

“  He was first appointed to the security of Russia's favorite candidate, Pastor [Mailhol]. But a few weeks later, when it was clear that the pastor was not going to receive significant support, he was transferred to another candidate: the favorite who finally won the election [Andri Rajoelina, editor's note]. "

►Also read: Analysis - Russia: Wagner, Moscow's private armed wing

During his public appearances, the advisor plays the roles of "  bodyguard  " to go unnoticed. But Bellingcat discovers that Colonel Pikalov was not in his first African country: he had already visited the Central African Republic in July 2018. In Bangui, he embodies the highest authority, as Christo Grozev explains:

“  He was a kind of intermediary between the private companies of Prigojine and the Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin. Even the military adviser to the Central African presidency, Valery Sakharov, even him, was asking Mazai for instructions. When there was a major problem, that was the person to turn to. When a team of journalists arrived in the Central African Republic, there was some panic about what they were going to film and what revelations they might make. A letter from Mazai describes how these journalists should be followed and spied on . "

►Also read: Russian journalists killed in the Central African Republic: two theses and still no answer

Suspicions about his involvement in Sudan and Mozambique

Christo Grovez recalls that even if they can only confirm his presence in Madagascar and the Central African Republic, they know that he has intervened in other areas on the continent but also in Syria:

“  Mazai has acted all over Africa. The photos we were able to obtain only confirm its presence in the Central African Republic and Madagascar. [But] former employees of Prigojine [also] mention missions in Syria, Mozambique, Sudan.  "

Following the request of Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi in 2019, Russia had promised to help the government army in its fight against the jihadists, in exchange for lucrative contracts in the gas regions. Several hundred individuals affiliated with the Wagner group had landed in the southern African country. Deployed in the province of Cabo Delgado, the heart of the jihadist insurgency in the north of the country, the members of Wagner had then suffered a crushing defeat.

Bellingcat's investigation also recalls that the field men attached to Vladimir Putin's close friend are in contact with relatives of the armed movement of the Seleka coalition in Benin and Chad, the armed movement which had driven out of power, in 2013. , the Central African President Bozizé.

Asked about the activities of the colonel, Evgueni Prigojine, close to President Vladimir Poutine, did not wish to answer. He has always denied any existence of a private military company and any involvement in African politics.

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  • Central African Republic
  • Madagascar
  • Defense
  • Russia

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