DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Two men claiming to be Russian nationals and saying they were taken captive in Niger by militants linked to al-Qaida appeared in a video published on a media platform affiliated to the extremist group.
The video, which appeared on the az-Zallaqa platform on Friday night, showed two men who said they were seized by the militants while working in Baga in northeastern Niger.
The men, seated side by side and dressed in traditional local clothing, spoke into the camera. One identified himself as Yury, saying he is a geologist and was working for a Russian company when he was arrested by JNIM, the al-Qaida affiliated group in the region. The other man said his name, which was harder to make out, and said he’d been in Niger for a month.
The AP cannot independently verify the video or the date it was filmed. The men did not say when they had been detained.
This is the first known sighting of the men. If their account is confirmed, they would be the first Russians in the Sahel believed to be kidnapped by jihadis despite a strong and growing Russian presence across the region.
Russia has capitalized on the deteriorating relations between the West and coup-affected Sahel nations in West Africa to send fighters to the region and assert its influence. Wagner, Russia’s shadowy mercenary group, has been active in the Sahel — the vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert — as the mercenaries profit from seized mineral riches in exchange for their security services.
In recent months Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, notably France and the United States, turning instead to Russia for security. In April, Russian military trainers arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defenses.
The video comes days after al-Qaida claimed an attack that dealt Wagner its deadliest blow in recent years, when it ambushed and killed at least 50 fighters in Mali. At least two Russians were taken captive by rebels.
The abductions are a significant hit to Wagner’s efforts in Niger, said Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a security think tank, who first reported the Russians had been taken. The fact that al-Qaida used the word “captives” and not hostages, in the video, points to a potential desire for a prisoner swap with jihadis being held by military regimes in the Sahel, he said.
Nasr said the hostages were taken on July 19 during a battle between jihadis and Niger’s military in Baga.
He said this based on a photograph sent to him by JNIM in the aftermath of the attack and showing the men’s faces, which he identified as the Russian captives in the video. The jihadis also confirmed to him the date the men were taken and their nationalities. The Russians are the only known foreign non-African hostages currently believed to be held by jihadi groups in the Sahel, he said.
Jihadi groups have been abducting hostages for ransom as a way to fund their operations and expand their presence. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel — the vast, semi-arid expanse below the Sahara Desert — since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
French journalist Olivier Dubois was released last year after being kidnapped from northern Mali in April 2021.
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Associated Press reporter Dasha Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia
