PREVIEW
Some 35 websites or media organisations published 700 stories at Russian instigation for fees ranging from $250 to $700 per article
The documents leaked from ‘The Company’, the inheritor of the Wagner Group’s network in Africa, itemise US$7.3 million spent on social media ‘influencers’ and journalists to promote the Kremlin’s version of the war in Ukraine, French ‘neo-colonialism’, and claims that Ukraine was arming Tuareg separatists in Mali.
Some 35 websites or media organisations published 700 stories at Russian instigation for fees ranging from $250 to $700 per article in the first nine months of 2024, all listed page by page in the documents. The content bears remarkable similarities to a separate set of Wagner documents detailing payments to social media influencers in 2023, leaked to Africa Confidential and published in November 2023 (AC Vol 64 No 23, Wagner pays cash for digital influence).
The latest leaks were published by Forbidden Stories in February and March, showing similar sums being paid to those we revealed in 2023 being spent on influencers – $200 or $300 per story, sometimes $500 or more, depending on the reach of the platform in question.
The most serious allegations concern notes of meetings between Kremlin ‘political technologist’ Maxim Sokolov and African National Congress Secretary-General and presidential hopeful Fikile Mbalula, along with his advisor Bongani Mbindwane.
The leaks record monthly payments to Mbindwane and requests by Mbalula for Russia to fund an ANC conference, reported by All Eyes on Wagner and The Continent online magazine.* Mbindwane and Mbalula strenuously deny the reports, although Mbalula could not rule out having met Sokolov.**
Some publishers admitted accepting money to place copy in their media outlets, but claimed they did not know the funds originated from the Russian state, despite the overtly pro Russian content. Once alerted, some publishers removed the material from their websites.
* www.thecontinent.org/_files/ugd/287178_16ea5ae3d31f4ea3b837799103cc4e7e.pdf
** The Legacy of Influence: the South African Chapter – Investigations with Impact
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Claimed activities of Wagner and The Company
Central African Republic: helping to establish a Russia House cultural centre in Bangui, running Russian language courses, organising rallies in support of the government armed forces and ‘Against Foreign Interference’, attacking the United States ambassador, and alleging that the United Nations peacekeeping force supplied landmines to militias.
Angola: holding training sessions for leaders of South Africa’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, which is led by former President Jacob Zuma, and placing an article criticising mine-clearance in Angola for US$700.
Côte d’Ivoire: placing articles for $500 in French and English, questioning the effectiveness of a World Health Organization-endorsed malaria vaccine programme and claiming that ‘African children [are being turned] into guinea pigs for Western clinical trials’.
Nigeria: placing an article for $700 alleging that an NGO calling for an investigation into civilian killings by the military is supporting Tuareg separatists.
Burkina Faso: placing an article for $500 claiming that wreckage from a Ukrainian-made drone was found at the site of the August 2024 ambush in which many Wagner and Malian soldiers were killed.
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