Chinese firm 'sold spy satellites to Wagner'

The Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2022 signed a contract with a Chinese firm to acquire two satellites and use their images, aiding its intelligence work as the organization sought to push Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to a document seen by AFP, reported from the Bangkok Post. 

The contract was signed in November 2022, over half a year into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in which the Wagner group under its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was playing a key role on the battlefield. The satellite images were also used to assist Wagner's operations in Africa and even its failed mutiny in June which has led now to the de-facto break up of the group followed by the death of Prigozhin and other key figures in an air crash in August, a European security source told AFP.

According to a contract seen by AFP written in English and Russian and signed on November 15, 2022, the company Beijing Yunze Technology Co Ltd sold two high-resolution observation satellites belonging to the Chinese space giant Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST) to Nika-Frut, a company then part of Prigozhin's commercial empire.

The over $30 million (235 million yuan) price was for the satellites themselves and additional services.

The contract also provides for the provision of images on demand, which allowed Wagner to obtain satellite pictures both of Ukraine and areas in Africa where its mercenaries were active including Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic and Mali, the European security source told AFP, asking not to be named.

According to this source, Wagner even ordered images of Russian territory at the end of May 2023, all along the route between the Ukrainian border and Moscow that was seized by Wagner's forces at the end of June, during the brief mutiny.

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