One month before Prigozhin’s mutiny, Wagner Group reportedly used proxy company to buy Chinese satellite images of Russian territory

The French news agency Agence France-Presse reports having discovered a contract signed by Nika-Fruit, a food products company owned by the now-deceased Russian catering magnate and mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The agreement with the Chinese space-tech firm Yunze Technology was concerning the purchase of two reconnaissance satellites and rights to the images they produced. The contract was signed by Nika-Fruit’s CEO Ivan Mechetin in November 2022. The satellites, developed by Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST), and additional services outlined in the agreement, would cost Nika-Fruit 235 million yuan, or over $30 million.

AFP’s source in the European secret services also claims that in late May 2023 — just a month before Wagner Group’s mutiny in June — the mercenary cartel ordered additional satellite images of the Russian territory, all the way from the Ukrainian border to Moscow.

The speaker notes that satellite data commissioned by Yevgeny Prigozhin included images of the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, later captured by the mercenaries during the mutiny. Also of interest were cities en route to Moscow and to the Chechen capital Grozny.