Wagner also won the right to apply for other satellite imagery from a network owned by Chinese operator CGS. Photo: Olga Maltseva/AFP
Wagner's mercenary group is reported to have bought satellites from China for use in the war against Ukraine.
Last year, Beijing Yunze Technology sold two high-resolution surveillance satellites for $30 million (£24.5 million) to a company owned by group founder Evgeniy Prigozhin, according to the agreement.
Wagner also won the right to bid to other satellite images from the network of the Chinese operator CGST, which owns about 100 satellites.
The contract, which is still in effect today, is reported to have been signed by Ivan Mechetin, director of a subsidiary that was part of Prigozhin’s business empire.
A European security source said Wagner apparently photographed the route of his fighter jets between Ukraine and Moscow in the weeks before the failed coup, having bought them last November.
There is no mention of an order in the contract. images of Russian territory and their use could not be confirmed by the AFP news agency.
Apparently, images were taken of a Russian military base in Rostov-on-Don, which was later captured by a paramilitary group, cities along the road to Moscow and Grozny, a stronghold of Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Kremlin Chechen leader.
The satellites were used from Ukraine to Mali
The expert, who wished to remain anonymous, said it was “clear” that Chinese authorities were aware of Wagner's activities.
The group reportedly used the satellites to photograph other areas where its mercenaries were active in countries including Ukraine, Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic and Mali.
The provision of satellite data also appears to have been known to Washington, which announced sanctions against Beijing Yunze Technology in February this year.
Two months later, the US State Department imposed sanctions on the aerospace technology executive, describing it as ” a satellite image reseller who supplied satellite imagery of locations in Ukraine to organizations linked to the Wagner PMC and Yevgeny Prigozhin.”
Wagner left Ukraine in June to launch a failed coup against Russia's military leadership, having captured the eastern city a month earlier Bakhmut.
Although the uprising was crushed within 24 hours, the paramilitary group came within 150 miles of Moscow, shooting down a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter along the way.
A few weeks after the failed coup, Wagner moved en masse to Belarus after a truce concluded by the country's leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Prigozhin died in a mysterious plane crash in August, carried out by Vladimir Putin. The Russian president suggested on Thursday that the incident could have happened because drunken mercenaries detonated hand grenades.
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