A shadowy Russian political operator with close ties to the notorious Wagner Group and its late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is detained in Chad on unexplained charges, adding a fresh chapter to his long career of mystery and intrigue.
Russian officials and state-controlled media maintain that Maxim Shugaley, who was detained on September 19 along with two other Russians, is an innocent sociologist who was in Chad to deliver humanitarian aid and participate in a pro-Russian event in the capital, N'Djamena.
But years of reporting on his exploits in countries as far-flung as Afghanistan and Libya present a picture of a master propagandist who has worked behind the scenes to advance the Kremlin's interests with some of the world's least reputable regimes.
Shugaley, president of the St. Petersburg-based Foundation for National Values Protection, or FNZC, was arrested at N'Djamena's airport "without explanation," according to an account this week in the Russian news agency RIA Novosty.
The report quoted the press attache at Russia's mission in Chad saying the three Russians are being well-treated and that she looks forward to their early release. But it offered no explanation of why they were detained and little on why they were there.
However the Russian daily Kommersant and a Paris-based weekly Jeune Afrique reported in late September and early October that Chadian military intelligence was behind Shugaley's arrest, and said he was accused of espionage and influence activities on behalf of the Wagner Group.
Kommersant said Shugaley maintains his innocence and "had no knowledge of Wagner activities in N'Djamena" -- this despite his reputed role in directing communications and hybrid warfare activities by the Kremlin-financed mercenary, which according to the U.S. State Department plotted to overthrow the government of Chad last year.
The Russian newspaper cited people close to Shugaley as saying that the "sociologist's mission" in Chad was "strictly humanitarian." It added that a suitcase in his possession at the time of his arrest "was full of souvenirs and cookies to be handed over at the pro-Russian rally in N'Djamena."
Citing a source familiar with the case, Central African Republic-based Corbeau news Centrafrique reported that Shugaley and his companions were arrested for trying to "infiltrate the Chadian security services."
Whatever the truth of those reports, they are not out of character with previous accounts of Shugaley's career and his own postings on Telegram -- the Wagner Group's favored messaging app -- where he runs his own channel with almost 18,000 subscribers.
In 2019, the FNZC organization that Shugaley heads was sanctioned by the U.S. State Department for serving in a covert operation to manipulate African politics in favor of the Kremlin by "sponsoring phony election monitoring missions," and promoting "disinformation operations."
The Wall Street Journal profiled Shugaley in 2021 as a "spy" and a "shadowy figure" pursuing the Kremlin's strategic goals across Africa.
His latest post on Telegram, dated August 23, laments the death of Prigozhin, killed in a suspicious helicopter crash a year earlier. Shugaley calls the Wagner founder a "Russian hero" who is "very much needed now in the Kursk Oblast." The post coincided with Ukraine's military intrusion into Russia's Kursk region.
In earlier posts dating back to May of this year, Shugaley reported he was in Chad to observe the presidential elections, which he describes as successful, "despite the U.S. destabilizing efforts."
In June, Shugaley said in a Telegram post that he was in Chad "for the second time in less than two months" to prepare the introduction of a Russian House in N'Djamena, which he said was a "natural development" given the Chadians "anti-French sentiments and mistrust of the U.S. actions in the region."
In April 2023, The Washington Post reported that leaked U.S. intelligence documents showed the Wagner Group was trying to recruit "Chadian rebels and establish a training site for 300 fighters in the neighboring Central African Republic as part of an evolving plot to topple the Chadian government."
The European Union sanctioned Shugaley in February 2023 for operating "as the public relations arm" of the Wagner Group.
Shugaley's role "includes directing propaganda and disinformation campaigns in favor of the Wagner Group, particularly to improve the reputation of Wagner and support its deployment, as well as interfering in a covert manner on behalf of the Wagner group in the various countries where the group is active," the EU said.
In May 2019, Shugaley and his interpreter Samer Sueifan were jailed for 18 months in Libya on charges of espionage and election interference.
Libyan officials said the mission of the two was to "recruit Libyans to gather information and to train them on how to influence any future Libyan elections."
Shugaley credited Prigozhin for his freedom in interviews with Russian media and in social media posts, saying that under his order, Wagner troops stormed the prison in Tripoli in December 2020 to free him. Prigozhin later commissioned an action movie lauding Shugaley and Wagner. His company, Concord, paid a $250,000 bonus to Shugaley and Sueifan.
Shugaley is a common figure in Central Africa Republic, a territory where Wagner mercenaries have been deeply embedded in the security system since 2018.
In February, the U.S. State Department issued a report titled, "The Wagner Group Atrocities in Africa: Lies and Truth," which documented violations committed by the group in CAR, Libya, Sudan, and Mali.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The State Department said, "In CAR, Wagner forces used indiscriminate killing, abductions, and rape to gain control of a key mining area near the city of Bambari, with survivors describing the attacks in detail."
A BBC documentary in 2019 reported that "at least six candidates were offered money by Russians in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential elections in Madagascar."
The BBC reported that Shugaley was among those "offering money" to various actors to sway the votes in favor of a Kremlin-backed candidate.
According to the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, after the death of Prigozhin, Shugaley partnered with the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was released from a U.S. jail in 2022 in a prisoner swap for the American basketball star Brittney Griner.
The group said Shugaley assisted Bout in winning a seat in the regional assembly of the city of Ulyanovsk in September 2023 as part of an ultra-nationalist party.
"In updates posted on the Telegram channel, Shugaley has reported on discussing plans with Bout to export military utility vehicles and aircraft to Africa," the report said.
