To gain insight into Russia’s governance model in Africa, one only need look at the experience of the Central African Republic. Russian mercenaries with the notorious Wagner Group, ostensibly brought into CAR in 2018 to help stabilize the beleaguered government of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, now control diamond and gold mines in the north of the country and have warned UN peacekeepers to steer clear of Russia’s area of control.
“Wagner is, in fact, an off-shoot of Russia’s GRU intelligence agency.”
While commonly referred to as private military contractors, Wagner is, in fact, an off-shoot of Russia’s GRU intelligence agency. The private contractor designation provides Moscow a degree of deniability over the actions of the paramilitary group, which include charges of extrajudicial killings, rapes, torture, and arbitrary detentions. Wagner’s deployment of an estimated 2,300 “instructors” has provided Moscow leverage in a context where it has historically had little presence.
Gaining leverage by swooping in to provide an isolated leader security support follows the script Russia has used in Syria, eastern Ukraine, and Libya, among other places. In CAR, this move was matched by the appointment of a Russian, Valery Zakharov, as CAR’s national security advisor. Wagner troops also serve as the presidential guard. Touadéra’s symbolic and actual dependence on Russia couldn’t be more evident. CAR politicians who have protested the outsized Russian influence, including the former foreign minister, Charles-Armel Doubane, have been sacked. Three Russian investigative journalists attempting to gain more details of Wagner activities in CAR were assassinated in 2018.
Having negotiated a waiver to the UN arms embargo in CAR, the Russians were able to import weapons that are now seen as part of an arms-for-resources deal. The region is strategically located on a trafficking corridor linking western Sudan and eastern Chad through CAR and to the coast and transnational criminal networks. Sometimes seen as a hapless pawn of the Russians, Touadéra is allegedly a full partner in the trafficking scheme. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens face ongoing insecurity, poverty, and instability.