The downing of a cargo plane in Sudan has sparked mystery amid speculation that Russian nationals were on board.
The Ilyushin Il-76 plane originally from Kyrgyzstan, with documents connecting it to the UAE, went down on October 21 after being shot at by Sudanese paramilitary forces in the west of the country.
It was found to contain a Russian passport and IDs of ‘foreign mercenaries,’ as filmed by the Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and reported by the Kyiv Independent.
This incident appears to have been an accident which occurred during a bout of ‘friendly fire,’ as the RSF are aligned with Russian mercenary groups. Per Newsweek reporting on October 21, Russia is investigating the crash further.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and the UAE Ministry of Defense has been contacted by Newsweek via email for comment.
According to reporting from CNN, the RSF have been working with Putin’s regime via the paramilitary Wagner Group in the ongoing war against their leadership in Sudan.
Sudanese soldiers secure the area during a military-backed tribe’s rally, in the East Nile province, Sudan, on June 22, 2019. The RSF appear to have shot down a plane containing Russian nationals.
Hussein Malla/Associated Press
The Wagner Group has been responsible for supplying weapons and missiles to the RSF, while Sudan’s de facto leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan last year appealed to Ukraine for aid, citing Russian interference as a key pressure point to his leadership, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sergej Sumlenny, the founder of the pro-Ukraine European Resilience Initiative Center, said on X (formerly Twitter) that the cargo plane which was shot down was also filled with weapons from Russia. Newsweek has not been able to verify this information.
Since the Wager Group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died in another mysterious plane crash in August 2023 after attempting a coup against the Kremlin, the Wager Group has been unofficially inducted into Russia’s national guard, according to Newsweek reporting.
The Wagner Group has been a critical component in Russia’s war against Ukraine, providing weapons and soldiers to the front, many of which are former convicts who have been pardoned in exchange for their services in Ukraine.
A man who appears to be a former service member of Russian private military company Wagner Group in Ukraine, at an unknown location. Wagner Group members have been critical to Russia’s operation in Ukraine.
Stanislav Krasilnikov/Sputnik via AP
The group is also used in many countries outside of Eastern Europe. They are especially active in Africa, as per a 2023 report from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the group is also not only operational in Sudan but also in Mali, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Libya.
According to the CFR report, Wagner has been operating in Sudan since 2017. They not only supply weapons but also guard mineral resources in exchange for gold exports to Russia.
The Wagner Group does not just involve themselves with physical combat, but are also engaged in online disinformation campaigns.
Former Wager chief Prigozhin owned the Internet Research Agency which has been linked to “troll farms” influencing elections and political beliefs around the world.
This agency, and his other online agency Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC) are both under US sanctions.
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