Wagner has played a key role in the war in Ukraine, and has also had a presence in Africa for years - where it has been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes. He said Wagner was fulfilling all its obligations on the continent and was ready to further develop relations with African countries. The telephone interview was posted on YouTube but its veracity cannot be immediately verified.Ī voice that appeared to be Prigozhin's could be heard under a French translation. Prigozhin's whereabouts since he led a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military has been largely under wraps.įootage emerged of him addressing his troops in Belarus last week, and this week he was pictured at a Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg. "We aren't reducing, moreover we're ready to increase our various contingents," Prigozhin told Cameroon-based Afrique Media.
In what appears to be Yevgeny Prigozhin's first interview since leading an aborted mutiny, the Wagner chief told an African news outlet his mercenary group is ready to increase its presence in Africa. "The Kremlin likely aims for this posturing to have a chilling effect on maritime activity so that Russian naval assets do not need to enforce an actual blockade of Ukrainian ports," it said. The ISW said the posturing by Russia is "likely intentionally ambiguous to generate widespread concern about possible detention by the Russian navy or outright strikes on civilian vessels". US-based thinktank The Institute for the Study of War said Russia's naval posturing in the Black Sea "likely aims to impose a de facto blockade on Ukrainian ports without committing the Black Sea Fleet to the enforcement of a naval blockade".Įarlier this week, Moscow's Black Sea Fleet conducted exercises where naval warships launched a missile at a target ship in the Black Sea. The warning followed Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal, which had allowed the safe passage of ships carrying Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world. Russia previously said it will consider any ships heading to these ports as potentially military cargo vessels involved in the war.
Ukrainian officials claim they have intercepted radio transmissions of Russian forces warning civilian ships in the Black Sea against sailing to Ukrainian ports.Ī Russian military blogger also shared an audio recording purportedly of a Russian warship giving this warning to a civilian vessel.
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