Aidar Aganin, a leading Arabist who reopened Russia's embassy in Tripoli, was the natural choice for Cairo. The post is instead going to a Turkologist who ran the Foreign Ministry's information security department, a field long tied to the FSB and SVR. Since Bogdanov left, security men have been taking over the Arab desks.
In July 2025, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister for the Middle East and Africa, was abruptly dismissed. Shortly before, his closest aide had been sent to Lefortovo on charges of high treason. Now Bogdanov himself is reportedly a suspect, and his old department is being handed to outsiders.
In 2017, near Sudan's Abu Hamad gold mine, Wagner mercenaries reportedly shot dead at least 73 protesters, including children. Prigozhin's firm mined gold with near-forced labor and mercury, helping Omar al-Bashir evade sanctions. Now Sudan lies in ruins after a civil war that has displaced 11 million people.