DISINFO: France mixes up the Wagner Group with the Russian state
SUMMARY
French minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, lies when he says that "the private Russian security group Wagner monopolised the fiscal capacity of the Central African state".
Moscow admits the presence of 1,135 Russian instructors in the Central African Republic, who do not take part directly in combat operations against "illegal armed groups", and denounces any confusion between its soldiers and the private group Wagner.
RESPONSE
Recurrent disinformation message about Wagner mercenary group and the Central African Republic (CAR).
RT and Sputnik fail to mention that the words of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs appear at the end of a documentary film called “Putin controls the game” shown on France 5 on 17 October 2021. Jean-Yves Le Drian refers here to the experiment by CAR to use Russian expertise to manage customs procedures. This programme was denounced by Central African Republic merchants and citizens last summer since it increased the fiscal pressure. Moreover, it created tensions inside the customs administration and with international partners. Eventually, the programme was suspended in October 2021.
Western states often point out the tight links between the Russian government and Wagner Group with the latter regularly acting as a proxy for the Russian state. The Wagner mercenaries who are scattered around the CAR, often guarding lucrative gold and diamond mines, have been linked to Putin’s close associate Yevgeny Prigozhin, often referred to as “Putin’s Chef”. Prigozhin’s conglomerate includes a company called Lobaye Invest that funds a local radio station in the CAR. It also finances the training of army recruits in the CAR with more than 250 Russian mercenaries.
To learn more about disinformation regarding the Wagner group, read the EUvsDisinfo article.