Russia did not inspire the events in Niger, but it is benefiting from it, says US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
After the coup in Niger, protesters in front of the French embassy chanted “Down with France! Long live Russia!” The head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, called the coup in the West African country “a struggle against the colonizer.” Some commentators believe the Kremlin is behind the coup in Niger. There are suggestions that the coup leaders turned to Wagnerians in neighboring Mali for help.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken does not believe the recent coup in Niamey was the work of Moscow and its mercenaries.
– I think that what happened and what is still happening in Niger was not initiated by Russia or the Wagner group, but … they tried to take advantage of it – the American politician judged in an interview with the BBC. Washington fears the presence of Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region.
“Everywhere this Wagner Group went, there was death, destruction and exploitation,” said Blinken. He emphasized that this pattern repeats in subsequent countries where mercenaries arrive.
Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region
It is estimated that the Wagner Group has thousands of mercenaries in countries such as the Central African Republic and Mali, where it pursues lucrative interests and increases Russian diplomatic and economic clout. There is now speculation that the Nigerian army will ask the Wagnerians for help in a military intervention.
The presence of the Wagnerians in the region was also mentioned by the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, who was imprisoned by the putschists.
“Thanks to the open invitation of the coup plotters and their regional allies, the entire central Sahel region can fall under the influence of Russia, through the Wagner group, whose brutal terrorism is fully visible in Ukraine,” he said in an interview with the Washington Post.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.