On January 16, negotiations took place in the Kremlin between Vladimir Putin and the President of the Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who was in Moscow on an official visit.
The declared goal was to deepen cooperation in the security, economic, and energy sectors.
In reality, since 2018, President Touadéra has been supported by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Private Military Company (PMC). In 2023, the Wagner group helped Touadéra hold a referendum that removed presidential term limits. In exchange, the mercenaries gained control over gold and diamond deposits, as well as timber extraction. In September 2024, the head of the Wagner group, Dmitry Podolsky, became the President of CAR’s chief security advisor.
Since 2018, the CAR and Russia have also cooperated on training military personnel from the African country by Russian instructors and supplying Russian equipment. In 2024 alone, Russian instructors trained about 10,000 CAR military personnel and over 500 law enforcement officers.
Russia and the CAR have plans to establish a Russian military base in the African country, with a personnel strength of up to 10,000.
