Russian Para-Military Operations in Africa: The Wagner Group as a De Facto Foreign Policy Instrument
Journal: Scientia Militaria South African Journal of Military Studies
Year: 2023

As a Russian private military company, the Wagner Group has become an increasingly significant instrument in the Kremlin’s foreign policy toolkit. Wagner can even be described as a quasi-state actor and a proxy institution of the Russian state. It has a footprint across the globe, but its operations have especially been mired in controversy on the African continent. In Africa, Russia has sought to expand its geo-political influence and accordingly challenges Western influence on the continent. W