Wagner Group Accused of Plotting Attacks on Chevron's African Pipelines, Cooperating with Al Qaeda

[C0RI0LANUS]

The Kremlin's new Afrika Korps.


The Wagner Group has been accused of plotting attacks against Western infrastructure in Africa, including the US oil company Chevron's pipelines, according to the leaked correspondence of Prigozhin's Concord Group obtained by Ukraine's Channel 24. Another accusation is that Wagner mercenaries have allegedly cooperated with terrorists, including Al Qaeda, in Africa. The obtained emails also shed light on a scandal involving food poisoning allegedly caused by the Concord Group.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the information.

In March 2021, Igor Smirnov wrote an email to Prigozhin's Concord Group, saying that retired Russian officers were expected to take part in attacks on foreign infrastructure facilities in West Africa.



Smirnov, allegedly a former Russian intelligence officer who allegedly worked for oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was attempting to frame or warn the group.

He claimed that "a group of Russians is contacting many armed groups in West Africa, including Ansaru, an Al Qaeda affiliate in Nigeria."

"In exchange for attacks on Western oil companies, jihadists are helping to arm militants in the Niger Delta under a direct agreement with the Russians," Smirnov said. "After the first attacks on Western companies, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb will take responsibility for that."

Apart from military activities, the correspondence covers Concord Group's food procurement schemes. In 2019, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's team exposed Concord Group's low-quality food deliveries to schools and kindergartens in Moscow and St. Petersburg, which resulted in the poisoning of hundreds of children.

Amid the scandal, many parents sent emails to Concord Group and demanded compensation.

In response to the accusations, in August 2019, Prigozhin accused Navalny and his associate Lyubov Sobol of orchestrating the poisoning, according to the leaked correspondence. He claimed that Navalny and Sobol "extorted 300 million rubles ($3 million) to avoid stirring up a scandal regarding the children."

These accusations fit the modus operandi of the Kremlin and the Wagner Group. Create chaos, then arrive with a solution (Wagnerites). 127 confirmed cases of food poisoning were blamed on Prigozhin who had to pay compensation and poor Alexei Navalny died later in a Siberian gulag.

Sources:

https://kyivindependent.com/prigozhins-wagner-group-accused-of-plotting-attacks-on-chevron-cooperating-with-al-qaeda-leaked-emails-show/

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/11/01/putins-chef-ordered-to-pay-for-mass-child-poisonings-a68014

[Lulu KC]

1. Thank you for bringing Africa into the picture

There is so much going on there and it doesn't get the attention it deserves in US coverage.