A Russian representative in the Central African Republic, who is associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin, the notorious millionaire owner of the Wagner Group military contractor, was severely injured on Friday when a package exploded in his hands, Prigozhin and Russian officials said.
Prigozhin, who has been dubbed “Putin’s chef” for his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said in a statement on social media that Dmitry Sytyi, who headed the “Russian House” in Bangui, the Central African Republic capital, was in grave condition after the attack.
Prigozhin charged that before losing consciousness, Sytyi said the explosive package contained a note saying: “This is for you from all the French. The Russians will get out of Africa.”
Photo: Reuters
Prigozhin’s Wagner Group has played an active part in fighting in Ukraine, and also has established itself in several African countries in what the West has seen as part of Moscow’s efforts to expand its clout in the continent.
Prigozhin, who has been on the US and EU sanctions list for years for his Kremlin links, accused France of staging the attack, and said that he asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to declare the country a “sponsor of terrorism.”
He did not provide evidence to support the claim.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov denounced the attack on Sytyi as “an inhuman terrorist act” and said that Russian authorities would take every effort to track down its organizers and perpetrators.
Moscow would take additional security measures, but not close the Russian House in Bangui, Bogdanov said, adding that “we mustn’t show any fear of terrorists.”
“There have been attacks by terrorists, and I’m afraid more will come, and we need to be ready for that, but it doesn’t mean that we should pack and run away” Bogdanov said in remarks carried by the Russian state news agency Tass.
Yevgeny Primakov, the head of a Russian state agency overseeing cultural and humanitarian ties with foreign countries, said that Sytyi was badly wounded, and doctors were working to save his life.
The Wagner Group has deployed personnel to many African countries, including the Central African Republic, in what Western officials have described as an attempt by Moscow to boost its political influence and win control of the continent’s natural resources. Wagner personnel have been accused of widespread human rights abuses.
Wagner fighters have guarded the country’s gold and diamond mines, and helped keep Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera in power.
A report released earlier this year by the UN’s independent expert on the human rights situation in the country cited a number of attacks it said were reportedly carried out on the orders of the country’s armed forces and their Wagner Group allies.
Bangui residents said they are worried that the attack could add another dimension of chaos to their lives.
“We regret that this country is turning into a theatre of Western attacks,” said Gaetan Betokomi, a government official. “They opened Pandora’s box and now this will be a method of settling scores in the country, and it is very sad,” he said.
Sytyi has worked in Central African Republic for several years. Prigozhin hailed him as a “Russian patriot.”
Prigozhin said that last month Sytyi received a letter with a picture of his son, who lives in France, saying that next time he will get his son’s head “if the Russians don’t get out of the African continent and open the doors to the French.”
He said that Sytyi carelessly opened the package on Friday because he thought that the gruesome threat had been fulfilled.
“If Dmitry Sytyi stays alive, he will continue the fight and see how those who made an attempt on his life perish in the flames of history,” said Prigozhin, who has cast Wagner operations in Africa as a fight against “Western colonialism.”
“If he dies, he will remain a symbol of that struggle. Not a single Russian will ever step back from the African continent until all the colonizers pull back to their countries’ borders,” Prigozhin said.
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