Even as it pursues its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is also expanding its military footprint in Africa.

The Russia-backed Wagner Group says it is leaving Mali after more than three and a half years of fighting Islamic extremists and insurgents in the country.

The Kremlin’s failure to prevent Bashar Assad’s swift downfall in Syria has exposed the limits of Russia’s power and dented its international clout.

Dozens of Wagner mercenaries were killed by jihadis and rebels over the weekend in northern Mali in what one analyst describes as the largest battleground blow to the shadowy Russian group in years.

A court in Moscow has ordered house arrest for a general in custody on fraud charges.

Kremlin critics, turncoat spies and investigative journalists have been attacked or killed in a variety of ways.

Vladimir Putin has moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win.

Yevgeny Prigozhin rose from an ex-con hot dog vendor to winning lucrative Kremlin contracts and heading a formidable mercenary army.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that hand grenade fragments have been found in the bodies of people who died in an August crash of a plane carrying Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Three decades ago, the world held its breath as tanks blasted the Russian parliament building in central Moscow while the Kremlin moved to flush out rebellious lawmakers in a crisis that shaped the country’s post-Soviet history.

A month after Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a suspicious plane crash, the Kremlin seems to be succeeding in keeping the demise of the profane and outspoken Wagner chief as low-key as possible.

The U.K. says it will declare Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a banned terrorist organization.

The Kremlin's spokesperson says “deliberate wrongdoing” is among the possible causes of the plane crash that killed Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last week.

A private burial has been held for Yevgeny Prigozhin, ending a tumultuous journey from St. Petersburg street thug to Kremlin-financed mercenary leader.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has confirmed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash.

The final two months of Yevgeny Prigozhin's life are shrouded in mystery.

The Wagner Group’s presence extends from Syria to Africa, projecting the Kremlin’s global influence with mercenaries accused of using brutal force.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has rejected allegations that the Kremlin was behind a plane crash that is presumed to have killed mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The head of a Russian mercenary group who launched a rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership in June is presumed dead after a mysterious plane crash.

When Yevgeny Prigozhin launched his armed rebellion that challenged the Kremlin, Western officials predicted Russian President Vladimir Putin would seek vengeance against the mercenary leader.

The manifest of the plane that went down in Russia is essentially a who’s who for the Wagner mercenary group.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment concluded that an intentional explosion caused the plane crash presumed to have killed a Russian mercenary leader.

Yevgeny Prigozhin made his name as the profane and brutal mercenary boss who mounted an armed rebellion that was the most severe and shocking challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

His name was on the manifest of a passenger plane that crashed in Russia.

Russia’s civil aviation agency says mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people aboard.

Russian media reports that Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a former commander of Moscow's forces in Ukraine who was linked to the leader of an armed rebellion, has been dismissed from his job as chief of the air force.

Ukrainian officials say Russian ballistic missiles have slammed into an apartment complex and a university building in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown.

British lawmakers say the U.K. has underestimated the threat posed by the Russian Wagner mercenary group and should ban it as a terrorist organization.

Human Rights Watch says it has found evidence of new summary executions, lootings, forced disappearances and other abuses committed in Mali by the army suspected Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries.

A prominent hard-line Russian nationalist who accused President Vladimir Putin of weakness in Ukraine has been arrested on charges of extremism, a signal the Kremlin has toughened its approach with hawkish critics after last month’s abortive rebellion by the Wagner mercenary company.

Mercenaries from Russia’s military company Wagner have launched joint drills with the Belarusian military almost a month after their short-lived rebellion.

A new video appears to show Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin for the first time since he led a short-lived rebellion last month, and he is seen telling his troops they will spend time in Belarus training its military before deploying to Africa.

More mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner military contractor have rolled into Belarus, continuing their relocation to the ex-Soviet nation following last month’s short-lived mutiny.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the chance to keep serving as single unit under the same commander.

A Russian general in charge of forces fighting in southern Ukraine has been relieved of his duties after speaking out about the problems faced by his troops.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says mercenaries of the Wagner Group are completing the handover of their weapons to the military.

The Kremlin says mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's commanders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin five days after staging a short-lived rebellion.

The Belarusian military has shown off a field camp it has offered to Russia’s Wagner military contractor if it relocates to Belarus under a deal that ended its mutiny.

Russia’s rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin walked free from prosecution for his June 24 armed mutiny, and it’s still unclear if anyone will face any charges in the brief uprising against the military or for the deaths of the soldiers killed in it.

The president of Belarus says the mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his troops are in their field camps.

The Russian military says it has fended off a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city's airports.

President Vladimir Putin will participate this week in his first multilateral summit since an armed rebellion rattled Russia.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has launched a drone attack on the capital Kyiv.

The Russian media watchdog has blacklisted at least five media outlets affiliated with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and blocked their websites in Russia.

Key players in events stemming from last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia include mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Gen. Sergei Surovikin.

A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising remain shrouded in mystery.

Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, has been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia.

As life in Russia returns to normal after an armed rebellion by a mercenary group, tensions are rising in and around its neighbor Belarus, where the exiled leader of the force and some of its fighters are settling in.

The dramatic rebellion by a mercenary warlord in Russia that challenged President Vladimir Putin was punctuated by dramatic language of the key protagonists – and some long silences.

Ukraine’s counterintelligence service has arrested a man it accuses of helping Russia direct a missile strike at a popular pizza restaurant.

The U.S. is imposing sanctions on four firms and one individual connected to the Wagner Group.

The Russian mercenary group that briefly rebelled against President Vladimir Putin’s authority has for years been a ruthless force-for-hire across Africa, protecting rulers at the expense of the masses.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led an armed rebellion against the Russian military — and got away with it.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus after his short-lived armed mutiny in Russia.

Some convicts recruited by Russia's private military contractor Wagner to fight in the war in Ukraine are coming home and committing new crimes.

On the surface, the turmoil in Russia would seem like something for the U.S. to celebrate: a powerful mercenary group engaging in a short-lived clash with Russia’s military at the very moment that Ukraine is trying to gain momentum in a critical counteroffensive.

The Biden administration is sending up to $500 million in military aid to Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armored vehicles and an infusion of missiles for air defense systems.

President Joe Biden says the United States and NATO had no involvement in the short-lived insurrection in Russia by the Wagner mercenary force.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has released the first audio statement since an aborted armed rebellion he staged.

The armed rebellion against the Russian military may have ended quickly, but the disarray within the enemy’s ranks was an unexpected gift and timely morale booster for Ukrainian troops.

For the first time in his more than 20-year rule, President Vladimir Putin’s power appeared to hang in the balance this weekend.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was notorious for unbridled and profane challenges to authority even before the attempted rebellion that he mounted Saturday.

A former CIA director has warned the leader of a failed Russian revolt to “be very careful around open windows.”.

The rebellious mercenary soldiers who briefly took over a Russian military headquarters on an ominous march toward Moscow are gone.

The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow says he was responding to an attack on his camps in Ukraine on Friday by rival forces from the Russian military.

The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power has fizzled out after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow agreed to go into exile and sounded the retreat.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has taken the spotlight in Russia by posing a direct challenge to Russia’s generals over the war in Ukraine.

The head of the private military contractor Wagner is calling for an armed rebellion to oust Russia’s defense minister.

The Russian owner of the private military contractor Wagner has made his most direct challenge to the Kremlin yet, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister.

For months, the head of the Wagner private military contractor bombarded Russia’s top military leaders with expletive-ridden insults in a rift that has weakened the country’s forces amid the war in Ukraine.

British officials say Russia and Ukraine are suffering high numbers of military casualties as Ukraine fights to dislodge the Kremlin’s forces from occupied areas in the early stages of its counteroffensive.

The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner claims his forces have started pulling out of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and handing over control to the Russian military.

The head of the Russian private army Wagner says his force lost more than 20,000 men in the drawn-out battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

A delegation of six African leaders set to hold talks with Kyiv and Moscow aim to “initiate a peace process” but also broach the thorny issue of how a heavily-sanctioned Russia can be paid for the fertilizer exports Africa desperately needs, a key mediator in the talks said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he believes that Russia has taken control of the eastern city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian military commanders say their troops recaptured more territory from Russian forces at the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle, for the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner returned to a familiar theme this week — bashing the country’s military leadership for failures in the war in Ukraine.

The owner of Russia’s Wagner military contractor is threatening to withdraw his troops next week from the protracted battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

The owner of Russia’s Wagner Group military contractor claims that his troops have extended their gains in the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmut.

Bakhmut has been the focus of a Russian attacks for six months in the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

The owner of the Russian private military company, Wagner, has accused Russia’s defense minister and chief of general staff of starving his fighters in Ukraine of ammunition.

Russian forces are claiming some battlefield success as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine labors to gain momentum almost a year after it began.

Russian forces over the weekend continued to shell Ukrainian cities amid a grinding push to seize more land in the east of the country.

The owner of the Russian Wagner Group private military contractor actively involved in the fighting in Ukraine has predicted that the war could drag on for years.

North African and Sudanese officials say the United States is increasing pressure on Middle East allies and power brokers in chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan to expel a Russian private military contractor.

Independent human rights experts working with the U.N. are calling for an investigation of possible abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by government forces in Mali and Russian military contractor the Wagner Group.

Fierce battles in eastern Ukraine have thrown a new spotlight on a private Russian military group led by a rogue millionaire with longtime links to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. Treasury Department will impose additional sanctions on the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, that has been aiding Russia’s military in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

As Russian troops wage a ferocious fight for control of strongholds in eastern Ukraine, a parallel battle is unfolding in the top echelons of military power in Moscow.

The White House says a private Russian military company has taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces as it fights side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine.

Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin kept a low profile over the years, but he has been increasingly in the spotlight recently.

Kremlin-connected businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that he interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so.

The Kremlin has refused to announce a full-blown mobilization as Russia suffers military losses in its invasion of Ukraine which is nearing its sixth month.

Russia has engaged in under-the-radar military operations in at least half a dozen countries in Africa in the last five years using a shadowy mercenary force analysts say is loyal to President Vladimir Putin.

In this photo taken from video released by Belarusian KGB, State TV and Radio Company of Belarus on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, Belarusian KGB officers detain Russian men in a sanitarium outside in Minsk, Belarus. (Belarusian KGB, State TV and Radio Company of Belarus via AP)MOSCOW The Kremlin demanded Friday that Belarus quickly release 33 Russian private security contractors it detained on terrorism charges, dismissing accusations of plots during the Belarus presidential campaign as bogus. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia expects Belarus to quickly free the detainees. He frequently accused the Kremlin of harboring plans to incorporate Belarus with Russia and vowed to resist them. Belarus election officials have blocked his two main challengers from being registered to run against him.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on companies connected to a Russian businessman who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and suspected of helping finance the covert social media campaign aimed at American voters ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The actions announced Wednesday take aim at front companies that officials say Yevgeny Prigozhin has relied on to process millions of dollars and to evade sanctions in Sudan, where the Trump administration says Russia has been involved in paramilitary operations and supporting authoritarian regimes. Todays actions will further limit attempts by Prigozhin and his backers to foment disorder or undermine democratic reforms in Sudan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement announcing the sanctions by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Prigozhin, whose close relationship to Putin has earned him the nickname of Putin's Chef," attracted attention in 2018 after he and Russian companies he controlled were indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. He was accused of financing an effort to use social media posts to spread disinformation and to divide American public opinion on hot-button social issues ahead of the election.