Russia is actively working to increase its influence on the poor countries of Africa in order to actually open a second front there to oppose the West. This is stated in the text of the Financial Times, reports "

The publication writes that Moscow managed to advance better in the Sahel region (a politically unstable semi-desert strip under the Sahara). Coups have taken place in several countries fighting jihadist rebels, bringing to power military governments hostile to France and openly sympathetic to Moscow.

Senior adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron considers the strengthening of Russia's position in Africa a "

Samuel Ramani, an employee of the Rusi analytical center, believes that Moscow has focused on a strip of countries from Mali to Sudan: “They think they can create a “coup belt” that will provide them with influence and oust the West”.

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Through “counter-insurgency deals, arms sales, the advancement of autocracy and soft power,” Ramani said, Russia has become “a big nation across the continent.”.

A senior French official who helps shape France's African strategy does not deny Russia's success: " "

In the Central African Republic alone, there are about 1,500 paramilitaries in masks from the “Wagner Group” mining gold and diamonds and producing bags of Wa Na Wa vodka with a rhinoceros logo and the slogan: “Made in the Central African Republic using Russian technologies”.

Even CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera owes his life to Wagner mercenaries, because they helped suppress an attempt to overthrow him on the eve of the elections in 2020. They provide an important ring of personal security..

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“This is not just his bodyguard, he is their hostage,” says a Western diplomat in the CAR capital Bangui.

In the Central African Republic, the Russian Federation has established a command center and a training base about 80 km from Bangui. Mercenaries from Wagner and other Russian private military companies, as well as Rwandan soldiers, have since played an important role in restoring some order..

The US Treasury says Wagner controls " A group of UN experts in 2021 concluded that 95% of the gold mined in the CAR was exported illegally.

In September, Mali's interim military government prime minister, Abdoulaye Maiga, used a speech at the UN to denounce the "

That same month, generals in Burkina Faso seized power for the second time in 8 months while waving Russian flags..

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In Sudan, another volatile country, Moscow maintains close ties with Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the second person in the administration to come to power in a 2019 coup.. According to the US Department of the Treasury, Russian companies operating in Sudan are profiting from illegal gold exports, which have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine.. Moscow has also been granted military access to Port Sudan, a strategic bottleneck on the Red Sea..

Recall that the other day the publication also reported that the United States of America increased pressure on allies in the Middle East in order to oust the " Declaring Wagner PMC a transnational criminal organization, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against it and against a whole network of 16 organizations close to it in order to prevent the organization from operating in the world.