Investigator or spy? Russo’s Travels Show How Moscow Is Trying To Expand Its Influence

Shugalis, a political operative and sociologist, recently arrived in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to search for areas where the Taliban could work with a political and security network led by Prigozhin.

The latter is a business mogul close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Furthermore, he is one of the most powerful political actors in Russia.

In Afghanistan, Shugal met with senior Taliban officials and conducted surveys to determine what Moscow might have the opportunity to work in the country.

“All roads are open to full cooperation, so I am here,” Shugalis wrote to The Wall Street Journal.

He claimed to see opportunities for broader political and economic relations with the Taliban.

It takes place where the US is retreating.

From Libya to Madagascar and now Afghanistan, Shugal’s unusual travels make clear how Moscow seeks to make friends and influence governments in places where American influence is waning.

A 55-year-old man often calls himself an investigator and sometimes participates in events beyond his control.

For example, while visiting the Libyan metropolis of Tripoli, he was imprisoned for more than a year on espionage charges. While he was still in prison in Russia, an action movie “Shugalis” was even made.

According to The Wall Street Journal, M. Šugalis works under the direct supervision of J. Prrigožinas. According to American and Western officials, together they form one of the most effective pairs of independent advisers in pursuing Russian President Putin’s strategic foreign policy goals.

US Special Counsel Robet Mueller’s 2016 Investigation The conclusions of the US presidential election were clear.

According to The Wall Street Journal, M. Šugalis works under the direct supervision of J. Prrigožinas.

The former restaurant owner, known as Putin’s chef J.Prigozhin, financed the “troll factory” in St. Petersburg by securing hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with the Russian government. This attempted to distort the results of the US presidential elections.

US intelligence agencies say Prigozhin’s main lever is a private Wagner group that has deployed his mercenaries to Syria, Libya and Ukraine.

Last year, the US Treasury Department issued sanctions on Prigožin, saying it is believed to be funding Wagner. This group is linked to the Russian Defense Ministry.

More recently, Wagner has started operations in Sudan and the Central African Republic.

Russian officials also said the Malian government had also spoken to them after France announced plans to cut its troops in the Sahel region.

A chain of meetings with the Taliban

And Shugalis, who is now president of the Prigozhin National Foundation for the Protection of National Values, is helping Russia increase its soft power in places where America’s influence is shrinking. However, he is behaving in such a way that his direct ties to the Kremlin cannot be traced.

“Maxim Shugalis is an independent agent and assistant to the Russian state,” said Samuel Ramani, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in the UK.

Shugal’s weeklong visit to Afghanistan included more than 100 interviews with Afghans about attitudes towards the Taliban and the overthrown US-backed government.

He met with Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahideen and began working on a plan, supported by the Taliban, to open a branch of the Prizhino Foundation.

“It was important to understand whether there were preconditions for the Taliban to form a complete state. I can say that most people have positive expectations,” said M. Šugalis.

He also shared his observations with J.Prigožinas.

“They drove out the bloody Americans, running like rats, thinking their ship had sunk. Maxim organizes meetings and enjoys walks through the streets of the city, “wrote J. Prrigožinas in August this year.

Libya was sent behind bars

M.Šugalis started working with J.Prigožinas in 2018 and since then their working tactics have remained similar.

According to US officials and analysts, it was in that year that Shugalis was sent to Africa to help expand Russian interests and counter American and French influence on the continent.

Prigožin: They kicked out the bloody Americans who run like rats, believing their ship has sunk. Maxim organizes meetings and enjoys strolling the streets of the city.

He is said to have offered suitcases full of cash to local politicians upon arrival to buy their loyalty in Madagascar. At the time, Shugalis himself claimed that he had visited Madagascar simply to observe the country’s elections.

Shugis’s last name reappeared in newspaper headlines when he and his translator were arrested in Libya in 2019.

This time, he was accused of offering to help Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, to return to the political arena.

Libyan officials said Shugali was conducting polls to assess public support for S. al-Islam Gaddafi. However, this is only part of Russia’s broader efforts to gain political support in oil-rich Libya.

Before Gaddafi was ousted, Moscow had signed multi-billion dollar deals with Libya. But then everything was lost.

While in Libya, M. Šugalis provided information directly to the J.Prigožinas organization.

Libyan officials revealed that the Russians admitted during the polls that they had arrived in the country with the mission of intervening in the elections to be held in December this year. Shugal himself claimed that his meetings with S. al-Islam Gaddafi were for investigative purposes only.

“Everyone is afraid that he will take revenge if he comes to power, for what happened to his father and his family,” Shugalis said.

During the year and a half he spent behind bars in Tripoli, Shugalis could hear explosions nearby as clashes broke out between the capital’s internationally recognized government and Russian-backed opposition forces.

The war ended with a ceasefire in 2020. in the mid-19th century, and in December, when the Russian government began putting pressure on Libya, Shugalis was liberated.

Outraged by the bad image of the Russians

J.Prigožinas personally sought to free M.Šugalis. His internet investigative agency has launched a campaign to secure the release of M. Shugal.

When the latter returned to Russia, Prrigozhin donated 18 million rubles (almost 215 thousand euros) to him. Last year, J.Prigožinas admitted that he had given money to M.Šugalis.

A few months later, Shugalis returned to his normal job, traveling to Sudan and the Central African Republic, where hundreds of Russian mercenaries support governments fighting rebel forces.

The United Nations investigators, in turn, accuse the Russian mercenaries of torture, executions and robberies.

Shugalis testifies that he conducted surveys in these countries to assess attitudes towards Russia and France, and that he also held press conferences and film screenings, including one at the stadium. The latter was designed to improve the image of Russian mercenaries.

“Some members of the Western press portray the newcomers from Russia as monsters,” he said.

Since then, Shugalis has continued his travels, despite sanctions imposed by the United States Department of the Treasury on the fund that hired him.

The United States previously imposed sanctions on both Prigožin himself and another person connected to the fund, Alexander Malkevičius, for spreading disinformation that they said the Russians interfered with in the 2016 election process.

However, Shugalis is able to continue his travels and often operates in the most remote corners of the world, which are difficult for the US judicial system to reach.

“Fortunately, no sanction is applied to me, at least not yet,” says happily M. Šugalis.