Putin seeks to shore up Russia’s African interests

The collapse of Syria’s regime has spooked other rulers propped up by Russia, such as President Touadéra of the Central African Republic.

President Putin and President Touadéra met in Moscow on Thursday to discuss ‘security’. Picture: Evgenia Novozhenina / POOL / AFP

President Vladimir Putin has sought to reassure a key African ally that he can rely on the Kremlin’s military assistance after Russia failed to prevent the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.

Faustin-Archange Touadera, president of the Central African Republic (CAR), has been propped up by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group since 2018, when they were deployed to the diamond and gold-rich nation.

Touadera visited Moscow on Thursday to discuss issues including “quite sensitive ones related to maintaining security”, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said.

In 2023, Wagner forces helped Touadera to stage and claim victory at a referendum that removed restrictions on presidential term limits. The referendum took place despite rebel forces controlling large parts of the country and a third of the population being displaced by fighting.

Wagner has been awarded control of lucrative gold, diamonds and timber resources in the CAR in return for keeping Touadera in power. Its fighters have been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and rape. It also oversees propaganda campaigns.

Dmitri Podolsky, a Wagner commander who lost an arm during the battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, was appointed in September as Touadera’s top security adviser. Touadera has been nicknamed “President Wagner” by his critics because of his reliance on the mercenary group.

Touadera is the first foreign leader to visit Putin this year and the Kremlin talks came after Bashar al-Assad was forced to flee Syria for Russia last month. Assad’s regime had been backed by the Russian military since 2015, but the Kremlin, whose forces are tied down in Ukraine, was unable to prevent rebels from seizing Damascus.

Assad’s fate has damaged Moscow’s “global image as a reliable ally, threatening its influence with African autocrats whom Russia seeks to support”, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.

As well as its operations in the CAR, Wagner, which also operates under the name Africa Corps, has fought on the side of the military junta in Mali and the Assad regime in Syria.

It has also had a military presence in Libya, Mozambique and Sudan as the Kremlin seeks to extend its influence across Africa.

Statues of Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, his second-in-command, were unveiled last month in Bangui. Picture: Annela Niamolo/AFP/Getty Images

However, the recent success of rebels in Syria could prompt Touadera to begin considering alternative security guarantees, said Samuel Ramani, an expert on Russia’s influence in Africa at the Royal United Services Institute think tank. Russia is seeking to open a military base in the CAR but no agreement has been reached.

“I think the Russians are sensing that he could waver and that’s why they want to shore up his authority,” Ramani said. “The United States hasn’t given up on the idea of battling for influence in the Central African Republic.”

In 2023, after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner leader, started a doomed mutiny against Moscow, officials in the CAR concluded a deal with Bancroft Global Development, a US security firm. Although Bancroft established a small presence in the CAR, it is not widely seen as a rival to Wagner.

“Touadera felt his Russian partners were underperforming and distracted,” Michael Stock, the group’s founder, told the Associated Press last year. Washington said it was not involved in Bancroft’s operations in the CAR.

Speaking at the Kremlin yesterday on Thursday, Touadera referred to Wagner as “Russian instructors” and told Putin that they had helped to build his army into a force capable of “repelling terrorists” and guarding against other threats.

“We will continue to work together to strengthen security throughout the country,” he said. He also described the Russians as “brave warriors”.

Bronze statues of Prigozhin and his right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, who both died in a plane crash shortly after his failed coup, were unveiled last month in Bangui, the CAR’s capital. The statues depict Prigozhin in body armour and holding a walkie-talkie, while Utkin is holding an AK-47.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by top military officials, including the CAR’s defence minister.

The Times