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The Wall Street Journal reports that Pavel Prigozhin has retained control of Wagner fighters in the Central African Republic and expanded his family’s commercial interests after his father’s death. The report describes a force of about 500 fighters and business interests that include gold, tramadol, weapons, and alcohol; the claims have not been independently verified here.
Pavel Prigozhin has retained Wagner fighters in the Central African Republic and expanded his family’s business there since his father, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported. The account describes how a Russian mercenary network continued operating in a country where Moscow had sought to bring Wagner’s African forces under its Defense Ministry.
According to the Journal, Russian authorities took control of the Wagner Group after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death and established the Defense Ministry’s Africa Corps, which was intended to assume command of Wagner personnel in Africa. Pavel Prigozhin nevertheless kept influence over the group’s fighters in the CAR, the newspaper reported. The report says President Faustin-Archange Touadéra asked the Kremlin not to replace those fighters with Russian Defense Ministry troops.
The Journal estimates that about 500 Wagner fighters are based in the capital, Bangui. They guard Touadéra, fight rebel groups and have been integrated into the country’s police, military and intelligence services, according to the newspaper. The fighters’ continued role suggests that formal Russian efforts to reorganize Wagner’s overseas operations have not displaced the group’s local relationships in the CAR.
The report describes a range of commercial interests attributed to Pavel Prigozhin and Wagner. It says he controls the country’s largest gold deposit, which generates an estimated $250 million annually, and that local authorities help move gold abroad by declaring it government property. Shipments have gone through Belarus over the past three months, the Journal reported. It also attributes a substantial share of the local tramadol market, weapons sales to rebel groups in Sudan and Libya, and vodka and beer production to the network. These are claims reported by the Journal, not independently established findings in the material available here.
Wagner’s Reach Beyond Russia
The reported arrangement matters because it points to a gap between Russia’s formal management of Wagner and the group’s practical position in the CAR. If the Journal’s account is accurate, local political backing and established security ties have allowed a Prigozhin-linked operation to persist despite Moscow’s effort to place African deployments under the Defense Ministry.
The reported business activity also connects security and commercial power. Wagner personnel are said to guard the president and fight insurgents while the family’s network earns money from gold and other trades. That combination could give the group continuing influence over both state security and valuable local resources. The scale and legality of each business activity, however, remain matters for independent verification.
The article cites a Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime estimate that the Prigozhin family earns more than $400 million a year. The estimate covers the family’s income, rather than establishing that all of it comes from the CAR or from Wagner operations. The distinction matters when judging the financial reach of Pavel’s reported role.
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From Wagner to Africa Corps
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s founder, died in August 2023. His son Pavel was 25 years old at the time and inherited his father’s estate, valued at 12 billion rubles, according to the source report. The elder Prigozhin was also survived by his wife, two daughters and mother. His will reportedly required Pavel to provide them with a decent standard of living.
After the elder Prigozhin’s death, Moscow took control of Wagner and formed the Africa Corps as a Defense Ministry force intended to take over the group’s African operations. The Journal’s reporting suggests that the change did not produce a complete replacement of Wagner personnel in the CAR. The country’s president reportedly preferred that existing fighters remain, and Wagner-linked personnel were integrated into national security bodies.
Pavel Prigozhin lives in St. Petersburg and visits Bangui regularly, the Journal reported. During those visits, he reportedly stays at the Ledger Plaza hotel, which the newspaper described as an effective Wagner headquarters. Fighters guard the grounds, and government officials are subject to security checks before meeting him.
“Pavel was required to provide his surviving relatives with a “decent standard of living.””
— Yevgeny Prigozhin’s will, as described by Meduza
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Questions Over Control and Revenue
The claims about the fighters’ numbers, Pavel Prigozhin’s control of commercial operations, gold revenue and trafficking routes are based on the Journal’s reporting as relayed by Meduza. The material available here does not include independent confirmation, documentary evidence or responses from Pavel Prigozhin, the CAR government, or Russian authorities.
It is also unclear how the Africa Corps and Russian Defense Ministry oversee Wagner-linked personnel who remain in the CAR, or what formal arrangements govern their relationship with Bangui. The source report says the family earns more than $400 million annually but does not provide a breakdown of that estimate by business, country or individual family member.
Meduza also reports that the outlet Port, citing an unnamed source, claimed Pavel’s unwillingness to share the inheritance caused a family dispute. That allegation is unconfirmed in the material provided and is separate from the Journal’s reporting on Wagner’s operations.
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Scrutiny of Wagner’s CAR Role
The next developments to watch are whether Russian or CAR officials publicly address the reported division of authority, and whether further evidence clarifies who controls Wagner personnel and revenue streams in the country. Any official confirmation, denial or new reporting could change the picture of how the Africa Corps relates to the forces that remained in Bangui.
For now, the reported presence of fighters and continued business activity suggest that Wagner-linked operations remain active in the CAR, but their precise command structure and finances are not publicly established in the source material. The Journal’s claims should be treated as reported findings pending further corroboration.
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Key Questions
What is the new development?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Pavel Prigozhin retained Wagner fighters in the Central African Republic and expanded the family’s business interests there after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death.
How many Wagner fighters are reportedly in the CAR?
The Journal puts the number at about 500 in Bangui. That is an estimate attributed to the newspaper, not an independently verified count in the source material.
What businesses are linked to Pavel Prigozhin in the report?
The Journal attributes gold interests, a substantial share of the local tramadol market, weapons sales to rebel groups in Sudan and Libya, and vodka and beer production to the network. The specific claims have not been independently confirmed here.
What is the Africa Corps’ role?
Russian authorities created the Defense Ministry’s Africa Corps after taking control of Wagner, with the stated purpose of assuming command of Wagner’s African mercenaries. The Journal reports that Wagner fighters nevertheless remained in the CAR.
What remains unconfirmed?
The source material does not independently verify the reported command arrangements, business ownership, revenue figures or trafficking claims. It also does not include responses from Pavel Prigozhin, CAR officials or Russian authorities.
Source: rss
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