- Russia Moves Further into Africa
- The agreement comes just weeks after three Russian journalists were murdered in the CAR while investigating the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company.
- Russia currently provides military assistance to the CAR with the consent of the UN Security Council. A UN military contingent is stationed in CAR, and U.S. and French military bases exist in Burkina Faso.
- In March, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it was sending five militaryand 170 civilian instructors to train the armed forces in the CAR, as well as ammunition to its army—it has also struck military agreements with other African nations, some of which have continued since the nineties. [RBC]
- Dmitry Bondarenko, Institute of African Studies: Russia is unlikely to earn money by selling weapons to these countries, which can’t afford Russian arms. But Russia can benefit from access to natural resources, particularly uranium and precious metals.
- There is also an international embargo imposed on the CAR, meaning that Russia must gain special permission from the UN in order to send military property to the country. [RBC]
- Vadim Zaitzev, Andrei Maslov, Yulia Timofeeva, Africa experts: The murder of the Russian journalists in the CAR raises questions about what Russia is doing in the country and what its objectives are. But Russia has no major business interests and isn’t playing a “geopolitical game” there yet.
- The CAR is one of the poorest countries in the world, marred by political instability, and lacking in strategic importance as a landlocked country, though its diamond and gold mines have attracted foreign companies.
- Russia’s role is exaggerated because it is convenient, especially for Western nations, to paint the country as an opponent. While in the long term, Russia’s presence in the CAR could transform into a political project in the context of BRICS, for now, it’s a simple business story. [Carnegie.ru]
By Dan Williams, Reuters: “Russia is “stuck” in Syria and looking for others to fund post-war reconstruction there, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said, describing this as an opportunity for Washington to press for Iranian forces to quit the country.”