Russia pursues a policy of expanding its influence in Africa. It plans to hire local residents to replace the Wagner contingent, Bloomberg reports.

The Kremlin is assembling the African Corps to create a network of military bases that will be controlled by the Ministry of Defense. Moscow is trying to revive its Cold War influence on the continent at a time of "sharp decline in Western influence." It will also allow consolidating control over Wagner's business network in Africa, including potentially lucrative mining industries.

"If this is formalized, especially with the departure of France, it would certainly be a much more significant and potentially long-term shift in the geopolitical and diplomatic agenda," said former US Special Envoy to the Sahel J. Peter Pham.

They want to recruit 20,000 fighters, including former Wagnerians, by the middle of the year. They will be sent to at least five countries friendly to Russia - Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger. 

The publication believes that this will no longer allow Russia to deny the UN's accusations, saying that it is not involved in the actions of mercenaries.

"Moscow has benefited from the destabilization in West Africa caused by military coups and Islamist uprisings in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which are deepening popular discontent with former colonial power France and perceived Western interference," Bloomberg writes.

In September, the three Sahel countries and Russia signed a mutual defense pact. Last week, the military leader of Chad, considered the last bastion of Western influence in the Sahel, met with Putin in Moscow. At the same time, the United States has a large drone base in neighboring Niger.