Who are the successors to Wagner’s influence operations?
Key takeaways
Prigozhin’s influence network is still operating and is absorbed by the Russian intelligence and security services.
A system of operatives, media, and front organizations known as the “Company” continues to run a global influence campaign.
They are heavily focused on Africa and the wider Global South, where geopolitical competition with the West is most active.
Russian influence operations are evolving, expanding, and likely to keep growing.
The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023 was widely seen as the end of one of Russia’s most notorious shadow networks, the Wagner Group. However, a new investigation by Forbidden Stories shows the opposite. Rather than disappearing, Wagner Group’s influence apparatus has been reorganized and brought under direct state control. What once operated as a semi-private ecosystem of mercenaries and propagandists has now become a more centralized tool in the hands of Russian intelligence, particularly the Foreign Intelligence Service or the SVR.
How the “Company” operates
The information obtained by Forbidden Stories suggests that the takeover of Wagner Group’s assets was overseen by Dmitry Fadeev, a former first deputy to SVR director Sergey Narishkin, who appears to remain responsible for defining the network’s key strategic objectives. Another SVR officer, Ilya Savelyev, is believed to be the operational link between the intelligence service and the “Company”.
The network’s activities are concentrated in Africa and parts of the wider Global South, for example, in Latin America, where governments are more vulnerable to external influence and where geopolitical competition is intensifying. At the core of this system is a structure informally referred to as the “Company”, which blends traditional intelligence operations with information warfare. “Company’s” activities typically include:
Organizing disinformation campaigns;
Supporting friendly politicians, undermining their opponents, and shaping electoral results;
Deploying operatives who build relationships with local actors, such as journalists, social activists, and political figures;
Establishing front structures such as shell companies, NGOs, and media platforms that mask the “Company’s” links to the SVR.
A system in transition
The “Company” essentially builds on the earlier model used by Wagner, but with a stronger emphasis on long-term influence, rather than just supporting Wagner’s military presence in the targeted countries. “Company” is fully aligned with the Russian state's strategic goals and is used to achieve them.
What was once a loosely controlled, personality-driven network under Prigozhin has evolved into a state-managed, intelligence-led operation. This shift brings greater coordination and consistency for its operations, more direct alignment with Russian foreign policy, and increased sustainability over time.
In short, Russia’s influence operations are becoming more institutionalized, centralized, professional, wide-ranging, and harder to dismantle.