Some of the US intelligence documents that were released yesterday on social media contain information that shows that the Wagner PMC mercenaries tried to purchase weapons in Turkey, The Washington Post reports.
The obtained testimony suggests that at the beginning of February, representatives of the Wagner PMC met with their Turkish contacts to purchase weapons and equipment for the Wagner PMC mission in Mali and Ukraine.
One of the reports also states that Assimi Goita, interim president of Mali, “confirmed that Mali can purchase weapons in Turkey on behalf of the Wagner mercenaries.”
However, there are no reports on whether the official Turkish government knew about such negotiations and whether they were successful.
The media notes that the information that one of the NATO member countries could help Russia in the war against Ukraine is extremely dangerous. The fact that Turkey is blocking Sweden from joining NATO is also worth considering.
A Turkish government spokesman declined to comment to reporters, and Mali’s embassy in Washington did not respond to a request.
The documents also contain information that Wagner PMC plans involving Russian prisoners in hostilities in Ukraine. They emphasize that Russian troops have become dependent on private soldiers.
Like the report on meetings involving Turkey, these cite their sources as coming from “signals intelligence,” a reference to electronic eavesdropping and communications intercepts. But because of the leak, there is a threat that these channels might become unavailable if they are exposed.
