Hundreds Of Wagner PMC Mercenaries Heading For Moscow
- 7.07.2023, 7:35
The fighters are being redeployed by air.
More than half a thousand mercenaries of the Wagner PMC of БиЮYevgeny Prigozhin have left the capital of the Central African Republic and headed for Moscow, Jeune Afrique reports.
According to the newspaper, 500-600 fighters were demobilised from Birao, Sido and Batangafo. Two planes have already taken off from Bangui airport. Another one is ready to go.
The publication also says that the future stay of Vitaly Perfiliev, the Wagner commander and the presidential adviser in the Central African Republic, remains in question. The Kremlin decided to replace him and other mercenary handlers in the country - including Aleksandr Ivanov and Dmitry Sytoy, director of the Russian House - after the Prigozhin mutiny, of which Moscow had notified the CAR authorities, Africa Vista wrote.
Perfiliev advises President Faustin-Arkange Touadera on national security matters. The head of state owes his survival to the PMC mercenaries who crushed an anti-government uprising in 2020. At the same time, Perfiliev is a close friend of Dmitry Utkin, Prigozhin's right-hand man and co-founder of Wagner.
Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR has significant reserves of diamonds, gold and uranium. Over 2022, the Wagner PMC has expanded its operations there significantly, including multiplying its gold production, Politico wrote, citing U.S. officials. According to U.S. estimates, one of the African mines alone was to bring Prigozhin $1 billion a year.
Russia and the CAR signed a military cooperation agreement in 2018. In February this year, Aleksandr Bikantov, the Russian ambassador to Bangui, said 1,890 Russian military instructors were in the republic. Days after Prigozhin's mutiny, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said such specialists would stay in Africa.
According to the Wall Street Journal, delegations from the diplomatic office flew to the CAR as well as Mali and Syria to assure their partners that the "operations" previously carried out by mercenary forces would continue, but under different leadership.