African Corps expands operations to Equatorial Guinea
The Central African country is the latest to embrace Russian military cooperation as part of a broader effort to develop bilateral ties.
Russia has reportedly started deploying military personnel to Equatorial Guinea, following an agreement reached in June 2024 by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov and Equatorial Guinean Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. The deployment is under the auspices of the African Corps, a contract-service unit subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Defence that was set up in summer 2023 as a partial replacement for private military company (PMC) Wagner. What distinguishes this deployment from those to other African countries is that Equatorial Guinea is not facing a domestic insurgency. Alongside security cooperation, the two countries appear to be developing ties in other areas, most notably energy – though Equatorial Guinea is likely most useful as a node in a broader network than in its own right.
In the news
💣 Terrorism & insurgency
Magomed Magomedov, former Sports Minister of Dagestan and head of Kizilyurt, has been included on Rosfinmonitoring’s list of designated extremists and terrorists. He was arrested in October 2023 on suspicion of embezzlement while a minister; charges of aiding terrorism and murder were added to the accusations later. United Russia decided this was not an appropriate form of criminality for the party of crooks and thieves and deleted his biography from its website.
Kommersant reported that four additional defendants, all residents of Ingushetia, were added to the list of people accused of involvement in the terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall in March 2024. Two of the accused — 32-year-old Khuseyn Medov from Surkhakhi and 23-year-old Dzhabrail Aushev also from Surkhakhi — have already been arrested, while the other two — 31-year-old Khavazh-Bagaudin Aliyev from Surkhakhi and 27-year-old Batyr Kulyayev from Ekhazhevo — have been placed on the wanted list. Investigators claim the men supplied weapons and may be linked to the Batalkhadzhintsy brotherhood, which has already been declared a terrorist organisation but simultaneously enjoys the support of Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov.
🪖 Private military companies (PMCs)
Piotr Kucharski, a 49-year-old Polish national from Watford in the United Kingdom, was sentenced to two and half years for claiming to be a member of the Wagner Group. Both Kucharski and prosecutors accepted he wasn’t really, but Kucharski had told people he was, made threats at a Viking re-enactment event, and expressed support for Wagner; prosecutors accepted there was no evidence that Kucharski had any actual connection to the group, but pursued prosecution because his actions still constituted an offence.
Russia’s Interior Ministry has reported that 3,344 foreign citizens have been granted Russian citizenship as a result of their participation in Russia’s war on Ukraine. It is not clear whether the number includes only those who have fought or also their families. In January 2024, President Putin signed a law providing foreigners who serve a year under contract with the Russian army a fast-track to citizenship, allowing them to bypass tests for Russian language, history, and law.
🚔 State-linked security services
Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that Ukrainian prisoners of war were the only ones killed in a recent drone strike on the Russian University of Spetsnaz in Gudermes. He also claimed that up to 10 PoWs were being held at each strategically important facility in the republic — the implication being that they are serving as human shields. Human rights activists report that they are unaware of any cases of Ukrainian PoWs being permanently held in Chechen facilities.
The Memorial Human Rights Centre has reported that mass searches are being carried out across Chechnya in response to a recent attack on Rosgvardia. The Chechen security services have allegedly abducted hundreds of people, denying them access to due process.
🚨 Everything else
Kadyrov awarded his daughter Ayshat with the medal In Memory of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov for her ‘work’ in strengthening relations between Chechnya and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and ‘lifting the spirits’ of those fighting in Ukraine. Ayshat, who is currently deputy prime minister of the Chechen Republic responsible for social policy, said she regarded the latest trinket that the Kadyrovs have awarded each other to be a great honour.