2023-10-05 12:44:14
The Russian mercenary group Wagner has signed a contract with a Chinese company to purchase two observation satellites, which will give it reconnaissance capabilities. The contract between the Chinese company Yunze Technology Co. Ltd and a company close to the mercenary group dates from November 2022 and might be viewed by AFP.
The Wagner Group has long fought in Ukraine and continues to have a presence in several African countries. The group has been in dissolution since the death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash in August.
According to the contract, the purchase price for the two satellites is $30 million. The agreement also includes the supply of high-quality images from other satellites from the Chinese space company CGST on order.
CGST currently operates around a hundred satellites. The contract, written in Russian and English, was concluded with the Russian company Nika-Frut, a subsidiary of a Prigozhin company.
In April, during the fighting for the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the Wagner boss boasted to his own people that he had satellite images of the region. “Who else has reconnaissance satellites in this country besides us?” he asked at the time on the Telegram online service.
According to information from European security circles, some of the satellite images were also used to prepare the Wagner uprising once morest Russian President Vladimir Putin in June. At the end of May, Prigozhin’s confidants ordered around 80 recordings of the route from the Ukrainian border to Moscow. However, the rebellion was broken off within 24 hours.
According to the information, Wagner also received satellite images from the African states of Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mali, where the mercenaries sometimes pursue lucrative interests.
When contacted by AFP, the two companies concerned initially did not comment on the contract. For its part, the Chinese government said it was “not informed regarding this matter.”
A European space expert, who wished to remain anonymous, questioned this. When it comes to “such sensitive requests,” it is clear that things go straight to the top in Beijing.
Although the Chinese government may have been aware of the supply of Chinese satellite images to Wagner’s troops, it is unclear to what extent this might affect the preparation of Prigozhin’s uprising in June.
The USA had previously had indications that Wagner had been supplied with images from Chinese satellites. In February they added Yunze Technology and another Chinese company that sells satellite images to their sanctions lists.
Prigozhin died on August 23 when his private plane crashed. Ukraine and the West suspect an act of revenge by the Kremlin, which Moscow rejects.
At the end of September, Putin commissioned a former confidant of Prigozhin’s to set up volunteer units to fight in Ukraine. The Wagner Group is currently being reorganized, with its lucrative operations abroad likely continuing under the aegis of another mercenary group or Moscow.
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