PMC Wagner buys two Chinese satellites for $30 million
AFP (Agence France-Presse) has obtained a document according to which the Wagner PMC has purchased two Chinese satellites for reconnaissance.
The agreement in English and Russian was signed on November 15, 2022, between Beijing Yunze Technology Co. and Nika-Fruit LLC, which, according to AFP, was part of the business structures of the founder of the so-called Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin. This is reported by DEV.ua with reference to Militarny.
Le groupe paramilitaire russe Wagner, longtemps présent en Ukraine et actif en Afrique, a signé un contrat avec une societe chinoise pour acquérir 2 satellites d’observation et commander des images, lui fournissant une puissance inédite de renseignement #AFP 1/2 pic.twitter.com/RRS90l0HKd
– Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) October 5, 2023
A Chinese company has sold two high-resolution surveillance satellites belonging to the Chinese space giant Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST) to Wagner. The contract was worth more than $30 million (235 million yuan).
In addition to satellites, it includes the provision of additional services. The agreement provides for the provision of on-demand imagery from other satellites in the CGST network.
The agency’s sources in the European security service claim that these satellites allowed Russian mercenaries to obtain satellite images of the territory of Ukraine, as well as Syria and African countries: Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Mali.
They also reported that at the end of May 2023, on the eve of the so-called Prigozhin’s rebellion, representatives of the Wagner PMC requested satellite images of Russia’s territory from the Russian-Ukrainian border to Moscow. AFP noted that there was no such clause in the contract.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told AFP that he was “not familiar with the situation” described in the article.
Last year, the Serhiy Prytula Foundation purchased the ICEYE “people’s satellite” for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. During his work, he helped to identify more than 7,000 objects of Russian equipment and played an important role in the destruction of Russian ships in Sevastopol.
