Wagner, by Russian law, can’t operate in Russia. The annexed oblasts are now considered Russia. Wagner going to Africa has been a topic around here all year. Better to send them Mali than have them deployed on the Belarus Polish border.
Did you bother to check the timeline before swallowing that spin?
On 30 September 2022, Russia, amid an ongoing invasion of Ukraine, unilaterally declared its annexation of areas in and around four Ukrainian oblasts – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. The boundaries of the areas to be annexed and their borders were not defined; Russian officials stated that they would be defined later.
October 8, 2022 – The start of the assault on Bakhmut city by Wagner fighters, according to Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.