Wagner’s customers will have to adjust to new leadership
But Yevgeny Prigozhin will prove hard to replace
The day after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death Fidèle Gouandjika, an adviser to Faustin-Archange Touadéra, president of the Central African Republic (CAR), eschewed formal attire. He wore green trousers, military boots, a gun belt and a T-shirt reading JE SUIS WAGNER. “Prigozhin is a hero for us…We won’t forget him,” explained Mr Gouandjika. Yet he argued that ties between Russia and the CAR, the country where the Wagner Group is most ensconced, would endure. “Russia has done a lot for the CAR and will continue to do so.”
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “What Prigozhin leaves behind”
From the September 2nd 2023 edition
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