Leader of Russia's Wagner helped boot UN peacekeepers from Mali, US says

The United States said on Friday it was concerned about the Russian Wagner Group's destabilizing activities in Africa and accused its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of helping to engineer the departure of UN peacekeepers from Mali.

The United States has information indicating Mali's transition government has paid more than $200 million to Wagner since late 2021, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.