Wagner boss Prigozhin bids for more power in Moscow
Thousands of anti-government protesters filled Prague’s Wenceslas Square on April 16 to demand the resignation of the Czech government. This is the second time in just over a month that a new Czech political party, with no seats in parliament, has brought people out onto the streets to show their anger at rising prices, for which it blames both the European Union and the governing coalition. For months now, the protestors have criticized the government’s attempt to criminalize disinformation, argued for the government to change its strong pro-Ukraine stance in the war with Russia and even called for Czechia to leave NATO. The protests are being lapped up by Russian state media outlets, which has made covering protests in Europe an editorial priority and an opportunity to spread disinformation. Recently, France has topped the headlines in Russia, with Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the Kremlin’s most prominent propagandists, expressing sympathy for protesters and criticizing French President Emanuel Macron for raising the state pension age to 64. Of course, Kiselyov did not mention Russia’s plan back in 2018 to raise the pension age to 65, which led to street protests and a significant drop in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s popularity. While Russian state media have devoted significant airtime to protests in France, they have almost completely ignored the passing into law of what is effectively a digital draft at home — a way, as my colleague Ellery Biddle wrote last week, for Russia to ensure that no eligible male can escape military service.
From Nigeria to Kenya, news outlets across the African continent celebrated Russia’s decision to cancel Africa’s $20 billion dollar debt. The news was announced by Vladimir Putin himself at an international parliamentary conference in Moscow titled “Russia-Africa in a multipolar world.” Putin also spoke about doubling trade with the continent and increasing the number of scholarships for African students to study in Russia. But it was the debt write off that grabbed the headlines. And that story is fake news, a classic piece of spin and disinformation piled upon a tiny kernel of truth from the distant past. Many of the African newsrooms that ran the story missed the fact that this debt has been written off many times before. The debt was owed to the Soviet Union when it collapsed in the 1990s. Since then, Russia, the self-appointed successor of the USSR on the global stage, has regularly relieved Africa of the burden of the debt it owes to a country that no longer exists. This piece by a Nigerian analyst puts together examples dating back over 20 years of Russian officials generously forgiving Africa's debt. The number cited is always $20 billion and the fact that it is owed to the Soviet Union is never mentioned.
Russia’s charm offensive in Africa taps into the continent’s genuine disillusionment with the West, but it is based on false narratives and half-truths. Surprisingly, one person willing to call out the Kremlin on its duplicity is Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, a notorious private militia that is closely tied to the Russian state. The Wagner Group has an extensive presence in Africa, particularly in the Sahel region, which stretches west to east across the continent. While Putin has been promising a bright new dawn in Russia-Africa relations, Prigozhin has criticized Russian officials for being all talk and no action. “French and other players on the African continent are many times, ten times, hundreds of times more active than we are,” Prigozhin wrote on Telegram. Some suggest that Prigozhin, increasingly outspoken about the Kremlin’s failings, has political aspirations and wants to project himself as a statesman and potential leader of Russia.
PRIGOZHIN PLOTS POWER GRAB
By: Frankie Vetch