Russia’s growing influence in Africa is evident in the Central African Republic (CAR), which has strengthened ties with the Kremlin through a 2018 defense deal that gave the Wagner Group, a private Russian military group, a greater role in the gave land.
Russian military instructors supplied the army with weapons, trained soldiers to fight rebels and served as bodyguards for Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
The Central African Republic sought help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner in 2018Image: Barbara Debout/AFP/Getty Images/AFP
Behind the cultural curtain
One of the central players in the Russian presence is Dmitri Sytyi, a 35-year-old marketing expert and economist, who heads Russian House, the Russian cultural center in CAR’s capital Bangui.
Sytyi likes to talk about Russian courses and evenings of Russian music and theater for the local population.
But observers say his influence is so great that they suspect he is one of the key figures within the Wagner group.
The Russian paramilitary organization is also suspected of being involved in activities across Africa, including operations in Libya, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The country is also accused of playing a major role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Wagner’s previous leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in Russia in 2023, a few weeks after the group of mercenaries staged a mutiny against the Kremlin.
“We will continue what he started,” Sytyi said, referring to Prigozhin.
Sytyi described Prigozhin’s death as a great loss for Africa, especially CAR, noting that Africa is a continent of the future.
“The aim of our policy is to help the Central African Republic,” he said. “Everything revolves around this aid policy. It is not about standing up for our interests.”
How Russia uses its soft power in the Central African Republic
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Wagner’s strategic entry
From the CAR’s perspective, Wagner gained a foothold in the country at the right time, said Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
“There was a feeling that France, the dominant power in CAR and a former colonial power, and the UN had not done enough as rising rebel violence threatened an elected government,” Ochieng told DW.
She added that this allowed Moscow to dominate both the security sector and the mining sector, which could not be controlled despite clear mining laws.
“What bothers me about the Russians and their approach in the Central African Republic is the fact that they want to act with such impunity and seize mines by any means necessary,” said Philip Obagi, a Nigeria-based correspondent for The Daily Beast, who has conducted research into mining. in the conflict area.
Obagi accuses both the Russians and the rebels of greed. They want to control the mines and do not negotiate, said Obagi, who said this is why there has been no recent improvement in stability and peace in CAR.
What is Wagner’s future in CAR after Prigozhin’s death?
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From bomb victim to influencer
Sytyi dismissed allegations of serious human rights abuses against former Wagner mercenaries made by journalists, NGOs and Britain as Western propaganda.
He himself was the victim of a parcel bomb attack at the end of 2022, as a result of which he wears a prosthesis on his right arm.
“Journalists who claim in their articles that I was behind the attack agree with this act of terror,” he said.
Sytyi is on sanctions lists of the US and the European Union in connection with the allegations of rights abuse. He is also one of the shareholders of Lobaye Invest, which is underway international sanctions lists.
The company is involved in the exploration of new raw material reserves and participates in the financing of Wagner’s activities.
Sytyi told DW that he is first and foremost a “cultural ambassador for Russia.” However, he admits that he has from time to time carried out other “disarmament missions” with the armed groups in Central Africa on behalf of President Touadera.
Wagner: What is Russia planning in the Central African Republic?
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Political influence instead of cultural work
According to Ochieng, Sytyi runs a cultural center but is also in a position to exert significant political influence over government negotiations and their terms. “Sytyi is active in the security apparatus, he is the head of Russian military intelligence and the head of all those who rotate to train auxiliary forces in Berengo,” the security expert said, referring to a planned Russian military base in the southern city of Berengo , equipped to meet the needs of 10,000 soldiers.
“So officially they are Russian trainers, but in reality they are Wagner members who own companies,” said former Central African MP Jean-Pierre Mara in DW’s 2023 French-language podcast. QuiQuoiReaction?
The planned base in Berengo – which already has an airport and other facilities necessary to run a military base – is another piece of the puzzle through which Russia is clearly trying to expand its influence across Africa. “The Central African Republic is a kind of pilot project for Russia’s new Africa policy,” Sytyi told DW.
Many other countries are closely watching how relations with the Central African Republic develop, as this could signal the future of Russian influence in Africa.
This article was originally published in German
Zigoto Tchaya Tchameni, Sandrine Blanchard and Eddy Micah Jr. contributed to the reporting