Moscow is steadily replacing Wagner militants with state-controlled structures in order to maintain control over Russian military operations abroad and minimize associated risks.
This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defence on social media platform X, citing intelligence data.
According to the report, in June 2025, Russia’s Ministry of Defence’s African Corps fully replaced the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) in Mali. The new contingent likely consists of around 2,000 African Corps servicemen, whereas previously, about 2,500 Wagner fighters were stationed there.
To support its African Corps in Mali, Russia transferred over 100 units of major combat equipment, including battle tanks, multiple rocket launcher systems, and tactical bombers — significantly boosting the firepower of Russian forces in the country.
The intelligence notes that Wagner forces had previously been heavily engaged on multiple fronts in the war against Ukraine, where nearly 50,000 convicts from Russian prisons were recruited. Over the course of 2023, Wagner rapidly evolved from a trusted auxiliary force of the Russian Ministry of Defence into a major security threat to the regime, especially after the group attempted a mutiny against the Kremlin in June 2023.
"Since then, the Russian Ministry of Defence has sought to centralize control over Russian security forces operating abroad in order to reduce the potential threat posed by independent private military companies to the Russian state, while at the same time increasingly formalizing Russia’s relationships with its security partners," the report states.
Despite the fact that the Russian Ministry of Defence replaced Wagner PMC in Syria at the end of 2023, in Libya at the beginning of 2024, and now in Mali, Wagner continues to operate independently in both the Central African Republic and Belarus, where approximately 2,000 and 300 militants are believed to be stationed, respectively, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
