these are the results of the television survey, the same survey will be in the second part of our program, there we will have serhiy taran and oleksiy koshel, literally in 15 minutes we will return to the air, wait. russia is offering regime survival packages to the governments of some african countries in exchange for natural resources. this is a bbc broadcast. dzaferov works in the studio. updated wagner group under new management, but with old plans and methods of earning. what threatens the expansion of russian mercenaries in african countries? wagner 2:0. the future of the private military company after the death of yev tashka prigozhin was in question for a short time. as it turned out. authors

of a new investigation, the multibillion-dollar business of pvc in african countries passed into the hands of russian intelligence. and now the russian state offers the governments of african countries a so-called package of measures for the survival of the regime in exchange for access to strategically important natural resources. the bbc has obtained access to internal documents of the russian government, which describe in detail the actions of the russian authorities in african countries. and yes, from the beginning full-scale war in ukraine, the kremlin earned more than 2.5 billion dollars from the sale of african gold. these are data from the blad gold report research program , which examines the connection between authoritarian african governments, russian mercenaries and western mining companies. in the region, for example, in the central african republic. wagner's front company obtained the rights to the dasim mine. it's on...

the biggest gold mine in the country, in exchange russian mercenaries promise support authoritarian regime. in sudan, a russian company controls a major oil refinery, which has allowed wagner to become the dominant buyer of raw sudanese gold. they also have planes to take gold out of the country, for example, in mali, russian mercenaries receive over $10 million in cash every month from the military junta, which in turn... gets its money from international mining companies, several of them in the country, and, for example, the canadian company beric gold paid taxes in mali in the amount of 206 million us dollars, only in the first half last 23rd year, the report says. before telling how wagner's group has changed now, a few words about its history. in the 14th year, it was founded by yevgeny prigozhin, who was often called putin's cook through. his

other business, then in the 14th year of the rough wagner facilitated the illegal occupation and annexation of the ukrainian crimea, and with a full-scale invasion, they actively fought together with the russian troops in ukraine. initially , most of wagner's mercenaries came from russian special forces and elite units, but in the 22nd year they began to recruit and prisoners from russian prisons. in addition to ukraine , wagner was active in syria, mali, sudan and... other african countries, where, as in ukraine, the group is accused of committing war crimes. and now, after reformatting the pvc , it operates under a different name, the expeditionary corps. however, observers say that only the name has changed. the objectives, equipment and geography remained the same. more on how the renewed wagner is doing in africa by the bbc's joe inwut.

this is yevgeny prigozhin during his last trip to africa. in a few weeks he will die few people doubted why the leader of the naymantsy rebellion was killed. instead, no one could have predicted what was to come for wagner's empire. now we know. almost immediately after prigozhin's mutiny , a meeting was held in the kremlin, at which it was decided that the control over wagner's operation in africa would be completely taken over by... russian military intelligence, gur. the operation was divided into two parts: a volunteer corps fighting in ukraine, and an expeditionary corps under the control of this man, general andriy averyanov. he commanded unit no 2915, which is said to have been involved in the poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal. he currently manages operations in africa. here is a detailed description of what is russian. can offer

governments, such as those in west africa, by taking on the role previously played by wagner and offering what they call a regime survival package. the regime survival package is what the russians describe as a group of services, from the personal protection of the leaders of the partner countries, to information operations to increase their popularity, to a series of economic measures, such as protection from western sanctions and even the provision of combat-ready forces to pursue their opponents. in many ways, this role is the same as what the wagnerites did before, providing the same services in exchange for access to valuable... minerals. at the same time, there was a fresh emphasis on attempts to oust the west from there. asymmetric warfare is very important to the russians, who really don't have enough forces to ever defeat the west. that is why they are looking for ways in which they

can use social media, politics to cause unrest, weaken western societies and distract the west from what the russians are doing in ukraine and elsewhere. this is how yevgeny prigozhin was honored in the central african republic after his death, with military honors near the monument to russian soldiers. we now know that his death, as it was perceived, did not mark the end of his operations in africa. and the researcher of vek wagner from the royal joint institute for defense studies, simon ramani emphasized. what wagner continues to be a tool of the kremlin's foreign policy. let's listen. they had close ties with the kremlin, and over time, when the war in ukraine began, the forces of wagner's group were transferred to the ukrainian front. the wagnerites received a lot of state support. so they

were never really autonomous, they were given orders and, as the columbia university professor pointed out, it was mostly a semi-state security structure. it is obvious that in... wagner is a rather complex institution from the point of view of responsibility. indeed pmc took an active part in increasing hybrid threats to europe, including problems with migrants. they also positioned themselves as an anti-western and anti-french entity and said that they would put an end to colonialism, that they were liberators, that they would help in the fight against the french colonialism regime. in the summer, we observed such a situation in niger, they were also actively used as an instrument of murder in the hands of the russian authorities, when allies from african countries used them in exchange for the extraction of minerals, so it can be concluded that that they are involved in both hybrid threats and the establishment of russian influence in the region. and

we will talk more about the influence of russia in africa with the africanist researcher of the global ukraine foundation, marta oliynyk dyomochko, i congratulate you, marta, we just heard the opinion of simon ramani, who says that wagner had... anti-french narratives promised to stop the so-called french colonialism, well, of course, in the same small french troops had to leave the country after many years, similar to the situation with un peacekeepers, the country's authorities invited wagner's group. on your opinion, why such a sharp transition from the west to russia? good evening, first of all, if we consider the mali case itself, it is worth noting here that a legitimate government cooperated with the event, that is, the election. president mali , after the coups took place in the country first in 2020, then in 2021, accordingly, the junta took more of russia's side, all this was fueled in parallel by various rallies, various protests like putin send in troops and so

on, that is, there is constantly at any at which protests did people appear from, respectively, from russian tricolors, and the fact is that always the wagnerites, when they appear in african countries, they are certain favorable conditions for them, that is... if we look there, whether it will be burkina faso, or whether it will be this niger , whether it will be tsar or mali, that is, these are always countries that have security problems, countries that have, say, not quite democratic leaders in power, countries that have a weak army that cannot cope on their own, and accordingly they have a certain request for some external force to help them address all these security issues. what is the russian influence in the region connected with in general, what levers of influence do you use? kremlin? directly, if we are talking about africa, here first, of course, it is what you mentioned, it is this aid package of the wagnerites, for such undemocratic countries, for weak countries, in addition, if more generally there are certain economic things that russia promises african countries, its influence

is also based quite strongly on propaganda, russia has a very widespread network of propaganda media, a whole network of non-governmental organizations , it seems to me that russofonia, it somehow bears such a name, is... an organization that is consciously engaged in increasing, strengthening the influence of russia, shaping its image, let's say, as a force that can help african countries avoid these trends of neocolonialism and so on. but to a greater extent, everything that russia offers to african countries is directly or military cooperation, it is the sale of weapons, it is some political consultation, it is propaganda, because economically it cannot compete with the same with china, which gives huge loans, it cannot compete with a measure that gives aid, and in general, all investments that fall to africa from the side of russia are 1% of the total number of investments. but why, in your opinion, is russia once again displacing the west from there? it is also directly related to the fact that the russians are trying, first of all, to create

a picture, let's say, for their internal consumer for the citizens of russia, that sanctions on russia do not apply, that there is no international isolation, in addition, in russia has long had such a huge dream of reviving, let's say, the ussr, as a second pole of influence, and accordingly russia is using africa in this. in addition, we should not forget about the resources, about the gold that you mentioned, but besides gold, there is also wood, there are diamonds, there is oil, all that. what it can take out of african countries, and accordingly, at the expense of which its criminal activities in ukraine are financed. in addition, this is an exchange for, let's say, certain political dividends, that is, for supporting russia within the organization united nations. for example, we see that all the countries that are pro-russian in africa, they always abstain from voting for resolutions in support of ukraine, or, as, for example, in the case of eritrea, they vote against. in addition, russia, if we talk specifically about the sahel, is... let's say, a territory where the state authorities have little control over the territory of the country,

accordingly, there are a large number of gray zones through which the routes of illegal trade, illegal migration, and russia has been consistently trying to remove these for a long time gray areas into their hands, and in this way to get a weapon up their sleeve to terrorize europe, for example, with the same illegal migrants, in addition, if the wagnerites enter niger, accordingly, they will have access to uranium chess, to uranium deposits, and this is already creating. a threat to the energy security of europe, to the energy security of france, in which 1/5 hundredth of the uranium production comes precisely from niger. thank you, researcher of the global ukraine foundation, marta oliynyk. the girl was in direct contact with us. thank you for your analysis. edvich sorgo, expert on african issues of the consulting company amber advisors. on the air, the bbc talked about the history of the cooperation of the russian military with african countries and... how does this threaten the countries of the west? relations between russia and

many african countries date back to soviet times and have continued since the mid-1980s, when there was a cold war. in fact, russia is returning to the region where it was present before, and specifically, pmc wagner began its activities on the continent from the central african republic in 2017-2 17. at first, the company's activities was limited to providing military support. there was no talk of trade and commercial relations at that time. it should be remembered that in many african countries there are problems with both armed rebellions and terrorist groups. this is especially true for west africa. so in the beginning, wagner supported the armies of the countries of the region. it is interesting that when you come to this region and listen to people about relations with the russians, you get

the impression that they are convinced that both sides will benefit from relations with russia, that this is a kind of act of defiance in relations with former western partners, they seem to say: "look, we can negotiate with the russians if you don't like something." in this situation, it is worrying that... in the future, there may be a confrontation between the countries of the region that support partnership with the west and pro-russian countries, because the tension between these two camps is already felt, most of all in west africa. subscribe to our pages in social networks so as not to miss the most important news, we are on facebook, instagram and tiktok, on youtube you can watch our release if you missed it on the air and that's all for today, more stories on our website, and we're on the air tomorrow at 9:00,

take care! congratulations, friends, the verdict program is live on the tv channel, this is the second part. today in the program. pashynskyi's case is in the anti-corruption court, why are the authorities trying to convict the head of the association of defense enterprises? politics during the war, zelensky's rating is declining. are russian special services involved in the escalation of political conflicts in ukraine? shame and

shame. polish authorities condemn farmers' protests, but do not decide. blockade problem border, whether polish trucks should be blocked in response. we will talk about this and other things with our guests in the next 45 minutes, but i remind you that in parallel with our tv broadcast, we are working on our sites, on facebook and youtube and conducting surveys. today we ask you about whether polish trucks should be blocked in response to poles' actions. yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, or rather. write your opinion in the comments under this video, if you watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if do you think we should respond to the poles by blocking their trucks, 0800 211 381, no 0800 211 382, ​​all calls to these numbers are free, call us, at the end of the program we will sum up the results

of this vote, i want to introduce the guests of our studio today, this oleksiy koshel, political scientist, head of the committee of voters of ukraine. mr. oleksiy, i congratulate you, thank you for joining our broadcast. thank you, good evening. serhii taran, political scientist. mr. serhiy, i congratulate you and thank you for being with us today. i congratulate you. gentlemen, since we ask our viewers and tv viewers about whether we should block polish trucks in response to the hope of the poles, i am in the format of a blitz, i suggest that you answer this question, whether we should block the poles so that they ... understand that they can also suffer from similar actions on the part of ukraine , mr. oleksiy, it is very difficult to answer clearly, there must be a whole complex of actions, but the key actions must be on the part of the cabinet of ministers, and the crisis in ukrainian-polish relations, i emphasize, is not only a question of grain, the whole complex of ukrainian- polish

relations, such a big crisis that i think i will not be wrong if i say that these are the worst ukrainian-polish relations. relations for the entire period of ukrainian independence, and here it is obvious that you will not save the situation either with blockades, individual actions, or actions at the level of ministers there or relevant vice prime ministers, obviously this issue needs to be settled at the level of the government, rather at the level of presidents . thank you, but today president zelensky said that the heads of government should meet by february 24 at the border of ukraine and poland, and if the participation of zelenskyi is needed, then he can also... join this meeting, mr. serhiy, what do you think, or should we demonstrate to the poles what the blockade means? when it comes to big politics , especially security issues, it is always served not by emotions, but by rational actions, and the question is always asked: what are the consequences of these actions and whether it is in the interests of the country

that does it, but if we consider this, then i think that the general blocking of the ukrainian-polish... border will not be in favor of ukraine, by the way, not in favor poland, that is why we need to look for other approaches and solve the issue so that the movement of agricultural products is renewed, and especially those things that work for ukrainian defense, what exactly needs to be done, i will of course answer later, but at least we should always look at two steps forward, understand what will happen after our actions, and having this strategy, solve issues so that they are beneficial to interests. and not in favor of emotions, even if those emotions are very fair. thank you, mr. serhiy, well, since it is about, in the case of poland, it is about security and our logistical capabilities, first of all during the war, it is important to talk about what is actually happening in other areas, well, in particular in the defense industry

, and in particular with the head of the national association of defense industry enterprises of ukraine serhiy. pashynsky today the higher anti-corruption court chose a preventive measure against serhiy pashynsky in the case of the nationalization of oil products of the oligarch kurchenko. this case is ten years old. the prosecutor's office requested an arrest and bail of 300 million hryvnias. today, the precautionary measure was not chosen. the court adjourned until february 23. lawyer andrii fedur is convinced that the suspicion is unfounded and the investigation did not provide any evidence, however. he is sure that his client will be arrested after all. let's listen to what fedor said. the paradox of what is happening here now is this. matter, but in fact the same, oil products that belonged to rosneft, that is, to our enemy, the one who is now arming and since the 14th year has provided means

for the russian army, and for some reason they are so delicately silent about this, after listening to the fable that we told so pathetically about my judgments, prosecutor, i can make a prediction, er... this case, which concerns pashynskyi, it all starts so loudly with their messages and all that, i predict that when they close the case on pashynskyi themselves, then they will do it very quietly, so that there are no journalists, that no one mentions it and so on, then this will be the result, pashynskyi is being arrested now, mr. oleksiy, why are the current... authorities the pashynskyi case from ten years ago, well that is it looks absolutely somehow strange, 10 years this case is,

and volodymyr zelenskyi has been in power for 5 years, suddenly this case was obtained, and what is the rationale in this case and what will ukraine gain or lose from the pashynskyi case as a result? well, first, explain the rationale. in fact, it is impossible, because pashinsky himself is not a politician of the first magnitude, is not a player of the highest league of politicians, does not represent an influential political force, and is not even clearly connected with any of the serious political players, so this case itself is unlikely to hit the to some political opponents, but here there may be answers in another plane, maybe pashynskyi's case will be connected with another more high-profile case, in which there may be... well-known politicians involved, we do not rule out the scenario, we do not rule out just business issues, when business disputes cross such a judicial plane, but this

case, it is long enough, and actually in your video, in your video, the lawyer spoke, based on the case materials, and expressed confidence that it is obvious that pashinsky will be arrested, i think that we can... eh to be based since we do not know the materials of the case , we can actually base it on all the informational noise surrounding this case, and the accusations against pashynskyi, at least how this topic was spread in the media, i have been watching it for at least six months, it was originally cautiously jumped in, then more forcefully, that is, certain preparations were taking place, and therefore it is obvious that precisely in this way, in which way it will hit the reputation of ukraine, i am afraid that... after all, we will receive another sufficiently resonant case that will indicate a selective justice, unfortunately, i

have the impression that this is how it will end, that is, it will end, despite the fact that 10 years ago, who was more right, no less right, but i think we will get a high-profile case , which will hit the reputation of the state, gentlemen, yesterday in my... on the air, tetyana chornovol was on the air, and she was talking, now a serviceman of the armed forces of ukraine, an officer, she was talking about the fact that serhiy pashynskyi at the beginning of the great war acquired and did a lot of useful affairs, acquired weapons in western soviet-style countries, imported very cheap weapons, compared to what was then purchased by official, state-owned enterprises. official state enterprises, let me remind you that serhiy pashynskyi is the head of the national association of defense and industry, and in this situation it is obvious that, when we are talking about a case

from ten years ago, we should look at what he is doing now. oleksiy correctly said that it is unlikely to hit any of the politicians or pashinsky, as a politician. obviously, we are talking about those opportunities and the achievements that serhii pashynskyi has during this war, perhaps... sending him to the pre-trial detention center has a completely different purpose, to redistribute the funds obtained by commercial enterprises, including by bringing weapons here to the territory of the ukrainian state during the war , most importantly, at what price are these weapons, mr. serhiy, do you think there is more politics here, or more economy tied up in the war? well, what you called can hardly be called economy, it is already some, shall we say, hidden selfish business interests, but i can say for sure that

, well, look, here... again, we have to ask the question, what is now in favor of ukraine? strengthening our defense industry is now in favor of ukraine. if a highly dubious case is now being launched against the head of the defense industry association, will it help our defense industry? especially now, when it has become much more difficult to get weapons from western partners, when now, due to delays in the supply of weapons in the united states, the question is, what should be produced for... weapons have become, well extremely sharp, and it was precisely at this time that it was necessary to pull out a ten-year-old case and start pulling it out, spinning it in the media, and for what, well, to be honest, i don’t even clearly understand the motivation, because for me, for example, there is it is clear that the matter is working against the ukrainian defense, and look, well, if it were true, well , poshinsky could find something there, well,

they would certainly find it. but now we would have found him some eggs for 17 hryvnias, we would have found some other cases, but there are none, that is, look at how many scandals we have had related to corruption, with the defense of industry, and pashynskyi is not there, they pulled out 10-year-old laws instead, so the matter is really, it is very strange for me, it definitely does not work for the interests of ukraine, and i am very sad that now we are even engaged in this conversation, because our conversation is heard not only by ukrainians, but also abroad, if they ... see all this and understand that such cases are being initiated in relation to the head of the association of the defense industry of ukraine, then will our international partners with us want to organize joint production, to invest in ukraine , to help our ukrainian defense, if we inside our country cannot deal with this defense and begin to persecute people who are engaged in this defense, so i would very much like this case to end somehow faster, because well in

the situation at the front is already acute, here we will still... discuss such absolutely not untimely, unnecessary things, there are a lot of different processes and decisions of the current team taking place in parallel, well, regarding the rotation of the military leadership of ukraine, 16 generals they were simply dismissed at one moment and others took their place, well, that’s clear, zelensky has such a constitutional and legal right, but no one even explained why this rotation took place, that is, if the general a hard-working bad general, then why do you give him the hero of ukraine the day after his dismissal, if he is a good general, well then say that this good general should stay in the team, we will give him some suitable place there, for which reason general nayev should be fired through the press and do not report elementary there also, among other things, the hero of ukraine and... that is, there are

many questions for zelenskyi's team, obviously, obviously, this is related to what awaits the current team ahead, we know that the term of office of the president comes to an end in may, and here the question what will actually happen next and in what way it will all continue. we remember how kuchma's presidential term ended in 2004, but since there was a third round of elections, it was full. were extended until february, if i am not mistaken, viktor yushchenko was sworn in in february, you connect all these events, what we are witnessing now, what we are witnessing now with the fact that the current team is trying to somehow secure itself, or let's say, create some kind of safe corridor for the next presidency, i understand that, well, no, it's not possible , not in the format of the next elections, because they

will be . after already after the end of the war, but in some way they are trying to get rid of some competitors who will say that zelensky is illegitimate, something must be done, this legal conflict must be resolved in some way, mr. oleksiy, of course, removal the hard-working and generally military leadership had little political undertones, well, we won't reveal the secret here, the whole world writes about it, but entire packs of western publications only write proly. version, by the way , there are no other versions, and therefore your logic that there is no strategy in the actions of the authorities, that is , there may indeed be problems between the military and civilian leadership, for this we are making changes, including civil leadership, including publicly pointing out individual problems that exist and trying to solve them, here we do not see point two, point three, or point four.