Sébastien Le Belzic, edited by Laura Laplaud / Photo credits: STRINGER / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP
The boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, killed in a plane crash, was buried in secret on Tuesday in a cemetery in Saint Petersburg, his company having confirmed a farewell ceremony held in private. General Andreï Averyanov, chief of the Russian spies, and the man of the low works of Vladimir Putin, succeeds him.
A week after the death of Yevgeny Prigojine, killed in a plane crash in Russia, General Andrei Averyanov, head of Russian spies, and the man of the base works of Vladimir Putin, will take the head of the group of Wagner mercenaries in Africa. But who is he?
A man in charge of assassinations
General Andrey Averyanov is the head of unit 29155 of the GRU, Russian military intelligence. A man in the shadows as secretive as it is formidable in charge of assassinations and destabilization missions abroad. Many of Wagner’s executives passed through his unit. General Averyanov only emerged from the shadows at the end of July during the Russia-Africa summit in Saint-Petersburg where at Putin’s table he discussed with Malian officials.
For Timothy Wilson, a professor at Oxford, his arrival at the head of Wagner in Africa will strengthen the power of Putin. “It will put an end to the possibility of Putin losing his influence in Africa and it will secure Russia’s future in Africa and its desire to oust France,” he said.
In four years, Wagner would have earned 250 million dollars
Wagner, Russia’s bridgehead in Africa but also a predator. In four years, the company created by Prigojine would have earned 250 million dollars just in mining on the continent. Income that Putin will now be able to control directly and distribute to his relatives to further establish his authority.