Russia’s Wagner Group Has Offered Weapons to R.S.F., U.S. Says

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the notorious private military company Wagner, has offered weapons to paramilitaries fighting for control of Sudan, according to American officials.

Mr Prigozhin, who has waged a brutal military campaign on behalf of Russia in Ukraine, said this week that he wanted peace and offered to help mediate between rival generals fighting for power. But the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Prigozhin actually intended to push for fighting between two military factions in Sudan: the Sudanese Army, overseen by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force, led by Lt. General Mohamed Hamdan.

Wagner – who previously sent Sudan armored vehicles and training in return for lucrative gold mining concessions – has offered powerful weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to paramilitary General Hamdan, American officials said.

As of Friday, General Hamdan had not decided whether to receive the weapons, which will come from Wagner’s stockpile in the Central African Republic, the official said.

Since 2019, Wagner has expanded its activities in Sudan, mining gold, exploring uranium and supplying mercenaries to the troubled Darfur region. After the two generals seized power in 2021, Wagner expanded his partnership with General Hamdan, who visited Moscow at the start of the Ukraine war and had received military equipment from the mercenary group.