WaPo: US had a covert plan to assassinate Wagner PMC commanders

The Washington Post reported on Sunday that US officials considered killing top officers from the Russian private military company Wagner, in an attempt to curb its growing influence in Africa. A document trove leaked by a US guardsman contains files that list multiple scenarios for “coordinated US and allied disruption efforts” against Wagner, including “kinetic” options. The files contain little evidence that the CIA, the Pentagon and other US agencies have caused Wagner any major setbacks in the past six years. A second leaks-based story published by the Post on Monday cites a document alleging that Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the GUR, and its head, Kirill Budanov, planned an attack on Wagner officers in Mali. The Post described Budanov as an ambitious 37-year-old general and rising star in the Ukrainian military, for whom US and European officials privately express “admiration” and whose “audacity sometimes makes them nervous.” Russia has accused the GUR of masterminding an attack on the Crimean Bridge last October.