The pick-up rolls on the RN7, towards downtown Bamako, capital of Mali. On board, two bearded men are filming in a video posted on Telegram, corner smiles and Russian rap in the background. Whoever holds the phone on the passenger seat is Ruslan Zaprudsky, nicknamed “Rusich”. The second, sitting on the rear seat, is called Alexander Kuznetsov, says “Ratibor”.
Both are former commanders of the Wagner group. At the end of 2024, they joined the Legion Wagner Istra, a new paramilitary unit set up by the Russian Ministry of Defense in which former mercenaries of Evgueni Prigojine recycled. Another figure in the group did the same: Andrey Ivanov, alias “KEP”under sanctions of the American treasury for “Have worked in close collaboration with (…) High Malian government officials on arms contracts, mining projects and other activities of the Wagner group ”.
Since December, the three men have been regularly in Mali. In another message posted on Telegram, at the end of January, they pose with fifteen “Musicians” – as Wagner fighters internally nicknamed – who, like them, signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry. In a third, at the end of February, they offer those who “Wish to join the team” to contact two Russian numbers.
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