The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security discovered that in November 2023, representatives of the russian Redut PMC (previously known as Wagner PMC) were actively operating in Guinea. Their objective was to recruit personnel for deployment in the war against Ukraine. They operated covertly under the guise of employees from Rusal and Nord Gold, companies owned by russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska and Alexei Mordashov. These firms are engaged in mineral extraction in Guinea’s northwest, near the Mali border.
The key recruiter for the PMC was Ture Mamuna, an ethnic Guinean holding russian citizenship, born in 1988. Mamuna was provided with resources, including a platform and office space from a controlled fund, to conduct meetings and process candidate applications. Completed questionnaires were to be transferred to a representative from the russian embassy in Guinea, whose identity remained unknown.
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Recruitment operations were exclusively handled by PMC agents, with interviews conducted solely by Mamuna in the fund’s office. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and Guinea’s anti-terrorist unit, Une force de police spéciale ANTIDROG, were alerted to the PMC’s activities.
Following the elimination of a group of PMC recruiters in Liberia and the detention of African mercenaries from Sierra Leone in Ukraine’s combat zone in December 2023, orders were issued to cease operations and dismantle the PMC’s recruitment network.
Consequently, repercussions extended to Rusal and Nord Gold companies. Presently, russian PMC activities in Guinea have been halted.
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