I wonder how well recruitment by Putin in Africa will do? When the war started in Feb 2022, Karkiv had around 300,000 a number of African students had a very difficult time returning home. I wonder to what extent their tales of woe have circulated in the targeted African countries Putin hopes to recruit?
recruitment by Putin in Africa
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Mostly dead.
The Kremlin has earned more than US$2.5 billion from trade in African gold since Vladimir Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In the Central African Republic (CAR), a Wagner front company has been awarded exclusive rights to the Ndassima mine, the country's largest gold mine, in return for propping up an authoritarian regime.
In Sudan, “the Russian company” controls a major refinery that has allowed Wagner to become the dominant buyer of unprocessed Sudanese gold, with multiple accounts of Russian military transport planes shipping processed gold out of the country.
In Mali, Russian mercenaries are paid in cash – US$10.8 million per month according to US Intelligence – by a military junta that relies on a small number of international mining companies for the majority of its tax revenue. Canada's Barrick Gold – the country's top taxpayer – paid US$206 million to the junta in the first half of 2023 alone.
In comment #6542, I meant to say Karkiv had 300,000 college students. The city itself had well over a million people. I wonder how many college students there are in Moscow or St. Petersburg?