An investigation by the “All Eyes on Wagner” collective shows that the Russian paramilitary group Wagner has created an office in Africa. This would be headed by a certain Petry Bychkov.
His name is not as well known as that of Wagner's famous boss, Yevgueni Prigojine, the Russian businessman dubbed "Putin's cook". However, Petry Bychkov would be one of the centerpieces of the Russian enterprise, in Africa at least. A collective, “All Eyes on Wagner”, has given itself the mission of “surveillance of Wagner's activities throughout the world”. It is in particular a question, on the portal of this collective, the influence of the paramilitary group in Burkina Faso or Mali.
But the interest of monitoring “All Eyes on Wagner” is the revelations about the Wagner system in Africa. The collective has published a summary note, relayed by some media including RFI radio, in which it asserts that the Russian group is much more than a paramilitary company: Wagner would indeed have an African office, which would bring together a team of “political scientists” dedicated to the continent. In all, several dozen experts, particularly in “public affairs”, are working on African issues.
Experts with impressive CVs
The group's African office, created according to "All Eyes on Wagner" at the end of 2018, is far from being an empty shell. The collective relied on invoices and internal notes to map the employees of what Wagner members call their “Africa Back Office”.
Formerly very discreet, Wagner seems moreover to assume more and more his African extension: Evgueni Prigojine had launched a project baptized, without ambiguity, “Africa Politology”. A project immediately placed under sanctions by the US Treasury last January.
But Prigojine would not be the number 1 of the group in Africa. The businessman is indeed busier in Moscow than on the continent and would have given the direction of his African office to a certain Petry Bychkov. Little information is available on this man, of whom “All Eyes on Wagner” does not know if he is still at the head of the famous “Back Office Africa”.
According to a member of the collective, Bychkov is “very well known in circles of political communicators” in Russia. At the head of Wagner's African office, he relies on a high-performance team. Among the important executives of the group within the framework of its African activities, a certain Dimitri Sytyi. Officially director of the Russian House cultural center in Bangui, Sytyi has a solid CV: he “is part of this new generation of Russians educated in the big schools and traveling all over Europe”, sums up the collective.
Political science, sociology and research
Above all, Dimitri Sytyi would have worked at the Internet Research Agency. The ideal place to learn about digital influence actions. Called to the Central African Republic, Sytyi was regularly seen alongside President Touadéra, whom he even accompanied on certain trips to Russia.
But according to “All Eyes on Wagner”, Dimitri Sytyi – officially injured by a parcel bomb, according to the Russians – is only one of the many pawns of the paramilitary group in Africa. Others, like Yulia Afanasyeva and Alexander Malkevich, work undercover as election observers for African figures. Prigozhin is said to have formed a whole team of “Russian political technologists” who explore Africa and “are interested in the socio-political situation and sociological research” on the continent, according to Kommersant. To do this, he would also have created several organizations, such as AFRIC (Association for Free Research and International Cooperation), which would allow Wagner to target new markets.