Italy accuses Wagner PMC of fueling migration crisis in Europe

The Russian Wagner private military company is guilty of inciting the migration crisis in Europe as a response to the support that European countries provide to Ukraine.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto made a corresponding statement, BBC News reports.

According to him, the exponential increase in the flow of migrants from African countries is part of the hybrid war waged by Wagner PMC. For this, the group has sufficient influence in African countries.

"Just as the EU, NATO and the West realized that cyber attacks were part of the global confrontation, they must now realize that the southern European front is also becoming more dangerous every day," Crosetto said.

He added that uncontrolled migration from Africa is turning into a way to strike at the most vulnerable countries in Europe and their geostrategic choices.

The publication notes that since the beginning of 2023, about 20,000 migrants from Africa have landed on the shores of Italy. For comparison, only 6,000 migrants arrived in the country during the same period in 2022.

Most of them come from the regions of Africa where Wagner PMC operates.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, at the beginning of 2023, Politico reported with reference to American officials that the Russian Wagner PMC is engaged in the development of a gold deposit in the Central African Republic.

We also reported that on February 14, the head of the Russian foundation Russia Behind Bars, Olga Romanova, suggested that the Wagner troopers intend to wait for the death of previously recruited prisoners, wind down their affairs in Ukraine and go to Africa.