It was an open secret for several months already. On Monday, September 26, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted to having founded the paramilitary group Wagner in 2014, to fight in Ukraine but also to extend Russia's influence in Africa and Latin America. The man was strongly suspected by many Western powers and Russian media of being the financier of the private military company but he had always left doubt about his actual role.

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Given Yevgeny Prigozhin's secretive temperament, this sudden announcement seems surprising to say the least. "Either he took this decision to reap some of the laurels on the Ukrainian front, where the only sectors unfavorable to the Ukrainian forces, in Bakhmut, are those where Wagner operates, isomitted to protect himself, because he does not only have friends in Moscow," said a source in Russia, who prefers, out of caution, to remain anonymous.

" READ ALSO "Without the Wagner group, the Russian army is not a real military power"

The oligarch probably also preferred to put an end to...

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