INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
country.Private military company Wagner is believed to be funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian catering magnate with ties to President
Initiative senior fellow, told FT.The publication said separate reports indicated that an estimated 200 Wagner fighters had also left the
Central African Republic.Two unnamed Western officials cited by the newspaper linked these moves to Russian setbacks on the battlefield in
Ukraine.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in mid-March that 40,000 Syrian soldiers had been put on standby for
other north and west African countries, including Mali, as it seeks to wield military and economic influence on the continent.Those efforts
