SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Telegraph – Vladimir Putin-linked businessman urged Sudan crackdown, leaked documents show

11/6/19: Telegraph – Vladimir Putin-linked businessman urged Sudan crackdown, leaked documents show, by Roland Oliphant

 

The Daily Telegraph reports that Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with close ties to Vladimir Putin criticized former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for failing to follow Russian advice on how to crack down on the country's pro-democracy uprising, it has emerged.

 Prigozhin, who is believed to run the Wagner group, a military contractor involved in Russia's war in Syria, wrote to Mr Bashir to complain that he had ignored Russian advice to paint protesters as "pro-Israel," "pro-LGBT", and "anti-Islam" in a bid to discredit them.

 Mr Prigozhin complained of a “lack of activity” by the Sudanese government and its “extremely cautious position”, the Guardian  reported, citing a letter obtained by the Dossier Centre, an investigative unit funded by the exiled Russian oligarch and Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovksy.