US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned against Russia’s Wagner mercenaries taking advantage of instability in coup-hit Niger, whose neighbour Mali has become a partner of Moscow.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned against Russia’s Wagner mercenaries taking advantage of instability in coup-hit Niger, whose neighbour Mali has become a partner of Moscow. In an interview on Tuesday, Blinken doubted that Wagner, which in June staged a shadowy rebellion against President Vladimir Putin, plotted the Nigerien military’s July 26 ouster of the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. According to him, what happened and what continues to happen in Niger was not instigated by Russia or by Wagner.

Blinken maintained that the Wagner group wants to take advantage of it and repeat what is happened in other countries, where they have brought nothing but death, destruction and exploitation have followed. Wagner has partnered with African nations including Mali and the Central African Republic, leading to wide accusations of abuses by rights groups and Western governments.