The Journal. - Wagner Group’s New Frontman in Africa

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

After Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last month, he left behind a vast network of political connections, companies and mines throughout Africa. WSJ’s Benoit Faucon chronicles the rise of Wagner’s Dmitry Sytii, the current frontman of Wagner’s African operations.  Further Reading: - The Elusive Figure Running Wagner’s Embattled Empire of Gold and Diamonds  Further Listening: - The Plane Crash That Killed Yevgeny Prigozhin  - The Mutiny That Shook Putin's Grip on Power  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could you introduce yourself and tell us what you cover? Yes, so I'm Benoit Faucon, I'm a reporter covering Africa and the Middle East. Our colleague Benoit has been keeping a close eye on the Wagner Group, the private mercenary company that represents Russian interests around the world. Last month, the group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed. Right now we're following breaking news out of Russia where a business jet crash has killed 10 people. It's been confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, was on board the private jet. Prigozhin has been killed in a plane crash in a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

Many thought that Progozhin's death marked an end to Wagner. Was that your impression too? Not exactly, because he not only created a brand, but also created an ecosystem. An ecosystem that reaches into many countries across Africa. It includes Wagner's armies and mercenaries, and also its companies and gold and diamond mines. All of it is estimated to be worth billions of dollars. So you can have that ecosystem surviving the death of his leader with the same people, the same function, and with the

government in Russia sort of struggling to really take control of it because it's too far, it's too complicated, and it relies on personal relationships. So it sounds like Wagner is very much alive. Absolutely. I mean, at this stage, the networks, the people, the person on the ground remains in place. Now, one man, according to Benoit's reporting, is the face of Wagner's business empire in Africa. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Monday, September 25th. Coming up on the show,

the man looking after Wagner's vast African network. When it comes to smart waterkaline 9.5 plus pH with antioxidant, there's nothing to overthink. So, while you may be performing mental gymnastics over whether the post-work gym crowd is worth it, if you'll be able to find a spot for your yoga mat, or if that spin instructor will make you late for dinner again, don't overthink how you hydrate. Life's full of choices.

Smart Water Alkaline is a simple one. After Prigogine's death, there was one big question a lot of people were asking. Is anyone stepping up to fill the power vacuum that Prigogine left behind? I think it's not actually, it wouldn't be a good idea. As in becoming the new Prigogine, as in a prominent hell-riser, unfiltered, unhinged, you know. You don't want to be that person, but you want to have the benefits of the power, the influence, and also, of course, the financial rewards of playing a similar role, maybe at a much smaller scale. One person Benoit has been paying close attention to is one of Wagner's top lieutenants in Africa. His name is Dimitri Siti.

Wagner's top lieutenants in Africa. His name is Dimitri Siti. Benoit and his colleague put together a comprehensive account of Siti's role at Wagner by speaking with over a dozen people familiar with its operations. That includes Wagner operatives, business partners, local politicians, and international security officials. And Siti couldn't be more different from bald, barrel-chested Progogion. He's got the flowing hair of Chateaubriand, you know, the 19th century French romantic poet, right? He's, you know, very slim, very, you know, low-key. He's not this other stereotype, put it that way, of the Wagner mercenary, you know, tattooed, muscular, you know, crop hair, is the actual complete opposite of that. Siti is 34 years old. He was born in the Soviet Union, just months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. As an adult, Siti studied abroad, first in Spain, and then at a top business school in Paris. He's fluent in Russian, English, Spanish and French.

He's a symbol of that generation of really young, educated, and I would say even Western educated Russians, you know, who benefited from the opening of Russia to the fall of the Soviet Union, make the best out of it, but somehow remain deeply connected with not only Russia, but also the nationalist element in the Putin regime. Siti graduated in 2015. He got a degree in international marketing and business development. Then he started to look for work.

So he posted a CV, right? He just graduated from the French business school. And he said, I want to work in high tech, and I want to work in an international company. Our producer actually got a hold of that CV, that resume. And it was, I mean, it looks like something I've made. You know what I mean? Like it looks very much like just somebody right out of school looking for work. So basically you do that and you'd think you read that CV and say, you want to work for Google, right? Siti ended up at a startup that was nothing like Google.

The company was called the Internet Research Agency, an innocuous name for an internet troll farm run by Evgeny Progozhin. So in a way, at that stage, he knows that it's not just another viral marketing company that is going to sell, you know, biscuits. It does other things, but it's clear that he's got an attachment to his country and he feels it's the right thing to do, right? The Internet Research Agency was one of several Russian companies

that the U.S. accused of election interference. The indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 presidential election. While the Russian government has denied that it interfered in the 2016 election, Progozhin appeared to admit to those efforts last year.

After a little over a year working on disinformation, Dimitri Siti was offered a new and very different position in the Wagner Network, a job as an interpreter in the Central African Republic. It's a former French colony smack dab in the center of the continent. Even though it's rich in natural resources, it's one of the poorest countries in the world. He lands in the Central African Republic as part of a list of people who've been allowed by the government to enter. At that stage, there's no Russian mercenary presence.

So he's really part of that really core team. There's mining executives there, for instance, political experts. And he's just really described as an interpreter. You know, he's like a very low-key guy. Right. He speaks multiple languages. Exactly. Wagner operatives were invited to the Central African Republic by the country's president in 2017. They were there to fight rebel groups, but it was also a strategic move for Russia. From the Central African Republic, Wagner could bolster governments throughout the continent that are friendly to President Vladimir Putin, without stretching

Russia's military. So you really do things that the Russian government didn't want to pay for and put his stamp on. So the job was that you were projecting Russian power, but you're not Russian government. We can deny you exist. There was another important reason for Wagner to be in the Central African Republic. There was an opportunity to make a lot of money. And that's what Siti started to do. He set up shop in the country's capital, Bangui, overseeing the organization's growing business interest in the country. He helped register a company that oversees gold and diamond mining. And he started radio and television stations in Bangui that spread pro-Russian, anti-Western propaganda.

Siti also delved into other, less expected industries. The beer is like being non-stop, you know, promotion on the WhatsApp group. So this beer is Wagner's beer? Like they're brewing? Yeah, they're brewing their beer. And that is a beer. We hear it's not that great, but clearly it's doing a lot of marketing. Wagner didn't just get into brewing beer for its love of the craft.

The group did it to challenge Western influence in Bangui. Before Wagner arrived, the beer of choice for locals was a French brand. But Wagner used disinformation tactics to link the French beer to rebel groups and accuse the company that made it of supporting terrorism. Now that adds back to the beginning, right? Who studied viral marketing in Paris, you know? That was Dimitri. And it seems like somehow he's implementing what he's learned at French business school in Bangui on the local Wagner beer. All of this made Wagner popular in the Central African Republic. Some local politicians credit the group with bringing stability to the country.

And Wagner has such broad support, there's a statue in Bangui that honors the group. Well, it's a statue basically of soldiers showing, protecting, you know, local children and family, basically. I mean, that's really a reminder of the role that Wagner played in protecting Bangui and the government, you know, against rebels. And it's interesting that every reference, you know, that is made to it is to Wagner, so not Russia. So in a way, you know, Prigogine is dead, but his legacy, the Wagner brand, the autonomous, you know, role that Wagner plays in Africa remains. Wagner has successfully embedded itself in daily life in Bang remains. Wagner has successfully embedded itself

in daily life in Bangui. But it's not all beer and statues for Wagner in Africa. There's a darker side. That's next. With Smartwater's pure, crisp taste, there's nothing to overthink. So while you may be spiraling over double-texting your crush, whether your skincare routine is working because you look the same

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Must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Available at the LCBO. Over the last few years, Wagner's work on the continent of Africa has expanded beyond the Central African Republic. The group helped local paramilitary forces fight a civil war in Sudan. Sudan, another major gold producer, has seen extensive Wagner involvement in mining and extraction, which continues despite the months-long conflict. Wagner fighters were briefly deployed in Mozambique to help fight Islamist rebels there.

The conflict is already taking a massive toll with nearly 700,000 people displaced as a result of the violence. And French officials say that Wagner-led disinformation has encouraged military coups and the expulsion of Western troops from countries like Mali and Burkina Faso. And the United States says it's concerned about Wagner's destabilizing influence in Africa. Each country that Wagner has entered has been pulled deeper into Russia's sphere of influence. Wagner would do the homework before they come in. You know, they very often send political scientists.

And so what they map is, you know, ethnic groups, X, you know, against another one. The one holding the power right now is this one, very often in the capital. How can we reinforce that group and create either alliances with specific groups or, on the other hand, crush adversaries that very often are not just on political lines, but also on ethnic lines. And why does Putin want influence in the continent of Africa? So if you think about the map, you have a direct, almost frontal war against NATO in Ukraine. And if Russia sort of starts, you know, having a strip of land of influence

that goes all the way from Sudan to the West African coast, a few hundred miles from countries like Italy or France, then the power to be a nuisance against NATO and Europe is going to be extremely significant. Wagner fighters across Africa have been accused by the U.S. government and international human rights organizations of kidnapping, raping, and killing civilians. The group has also faced resistance. In December of last year, Dmitry Sity was injured in an attack on a Russian cultural center he runs in Bangui.

A letter bomb, according to Prigozhin and himself, is sent to his office, explodes, and he loses several fingers. He goes around in every picture ever since with a black glove. It sort of gives the sense that, you know, behind is fairly, really, again, innocent appearance. His life is not as light, maybe, as it outwardly seems. After that incident, Siti left the Central African Republic to recover at a Russian hospital. He returned to Bangui this spring. Soon after, things for the Wagner group started changing, fast. Siti's boss, Yevgeny Progozhin, was openly criticizing Russian officials. And then... We begin this morning with our top story, spiraling tension in Russia.

Breaking overnight, President Vladimir Putin vows to punish mercenary troops mounting an armed uprising in Russia. Where was Siti when Prigozhin led that rebellion against Putin in June? So as far as we know, he was in Bangui. And later on, he gave an interview to one of the Prigogine-connected African outlets and said, I'm continuing to work here, and I thank Evgeny Prigogine for all the great work that he's done. So for the first time, it was the most explicit time for him to pledge allegiance to Prigogine. Siti supported Prigogine during the attempted coup.

But when Prigogine died in a plane crash two months later, Siti was a little more ambiguous. He said, you know, he kind of dodged the question about what would happen. You know, he was asked, you know, what's going to happen, like you say, you know, after Prigozhin's death. And he also was, I really don't know. I don't want to get into that. But we're staying and we're working. And to me, that means the legacy, you know, because during that interview, he was very, very supportive of Wagner and, you know, and Prigogine's legacy. Clearly, his message was that legacy is here to stay. Siti has worked to keep Prigogine's companies running in Africa.

Satellite images show that a Wagner gold mine in the Central African Republic is still operating. What do we know about Putin's relationship with Siti? We, our impression is it's pretty much, you know, in a very different sphere and level. I don't think there is any, you know, is a local, extremely well-connected center of power and networker. But, you know, the connection point with Putin was at the Prigozhin level. You know, I mean, remember, he's also lived in South African Republic for the past at least six years, right? So, yeah. Right. And he's young. He doesn't have the same kind of history that Prigozhin has had with Putin.

Exactly. I would say his relationship is going to be almost a connection point between all the Wagner business, disinformation, even sometimes military networks. And for instance, the Russian embassy. We do know that he's got a relationship with the Russian embassy. That's more at that level that things are happening. with the Russian embassy. That's more at that level that things are happening. And so in terms of the relationship between sort of the Russian government and Wagner, would you say that the mutiny in Moscow and the plane crash that killed Progozhin,

is that all water under the bridge now? Oh, I wouldn't say that. I would say anyone who has similar ambitions got the memo, right? You'd better be fairly low key at this stage. So I think it's not water under the bridge, which is, you know, it's basically there's a sense of reset into the Russian political class that they are red lines. And, you know, you think you can cross them when you can't. In the weeks after Prigozhin's death, the president of the Central African Republic told Moscow

that he wants Siti to stay in Bangui. He said removing Wagner would disrupt his government's efforts to fight rebel groups. Siti continues to live and work out of a luxurious villa in the country's capital. The villa once served as the president's official residence. And recently, pictures have surfaced of people in Bangui wearing shirts with Siti's face on them. The shirts were first handed out after Siti was injured in the December bombing.

Earlier this month, Siti told a Russian newspaper that, quote, we need to keep working and not lose heart. He added that he continues to work for Russia. That's all for today, Monday, September 25th. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Gabrielle Steinhauser. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.