News agency CNN is reporting that Russian advisers in Sudan, linked to the oligarch and close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, worked to assist former President Omar al-Bashir in trying to crush the uprising that ultimately led to his removal earlier this month.

Their strategies, from pushing out fake news on social media to holding public executions, were detailed in documents shared with CNN by Russian exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his Dossier Center investigative outlet. Khodorkovsky targets the Kremlin and any alleged links to criminal activity.

“Multiple government and military sources in Khartoum have confirmed to CNN that Bashir’s government received the proposals and began to act on them, before Bashir was deposed in a coup earlier this month,” the news outlet said Thursday.

The documents reviewed by CNN are linked to M-Invest, a Prigozhin company with an office in Khartoum.

The presence of “private security firms” working in Sudan was confirmed by the Russian foreign ministry in January, when reports surfaced of mercenaries seen in Khartoum while the Bashir regime, a close Putin ally, continued a brutal crackdown on protests in which dozens died.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova downplayed the Russian role, and said “their functions are limited to personnel training in the interests of the Republic of Sudan’s security agencies.”

The Russian presence on the African continent has come under closer scrutiny since August 2018 when three journalists died in the Central African Republic while investigating the role of Russian mercenaries in the CAR for Khodorkovsky.

To see the complete CNN report, check this link.

Image: Sudan Change Now file