Ahmad 
Russian media sources revealed that Moscow has begun the process of forming the “African Corps” to replace the Wagner forces operating in the African continent, so that this structure is supposed to be completed by the summer of 2024 and includes 5 African countries.
The Russian newspaper Vedomosti said in a report that a source in the private security company “RCB Group”, which trains security forces in Burkina Faso, confirmed the news.
According to this source, the African Corps has either already been deployed or is planned to be deployed in Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger. The new structure will report directly to the military administration and will be overseen by Russian Deputy Defense Minister General Yununus Bey Yevkurov.
Vedomosti quoted another source as saying that the formation of the corps is based on units from the former Wagner military company and individual fighters who left the organization.
One of the unit’s fighters, who previously worked for that private military company and now works in Mali, explained that the fighters are now funded by the Russian Guard, after amendments were adopted in December that allowed the Russian Guard to include volunteer formations.
A Vedomosti source close to the Defense Ministry also confirmed that in addition to the African Legion, structures belonging to other law enforcement agencies and private security services companies linked to Russian companies will operate in Africa.
Vedomosti quoted another source as saying that the formation of the corps is based on units from the former Wagner military company and individual fighters who left the organization.
One of the unit’s fighters, who previously worked for that private military company and now works in Mali, explained that the fighters are now funded by the Russian Guard, after amendments were adopted in December that allowed the Russian Guard to include volunteer formations.
A Vedomosti source close to the Defense Ministry also confirmed that in addition to the African Legion, structures belonging to other law enforcement agencies and private security services companies linked to Russian companies will operate in Africa.
One of Vedomosti’s sources adds that the recruitment process began in December not only in Africa, but also in Russia, confirming the validity of recruitment announcements published since the first ten days of December 2023 on military channels on the Telegram application, so that applicants are offered “to serve under the supervision of competent commanders with combat experience, receive salaries in foreign currencies abroad, and receive medical care and all social privileges.”
Grigory Lukyanov, a researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Orientalism of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the emerging African Legion is nothing like the Western and Asian security companies that have been operating in Africa for 30 years.
Lukyanov believes that the African Legion’s activity in the Sahel is impossible without the role of Libya or Algeria as landing airports and countries bordering the sea. This may explain Yevkurov’s meeting with General Khalifa Haftar in August in Benghazi and in late September in Moscow.