Since the dissolution of the Wagner mercenary group, Russia has restructured its paramilitary networks in Africa, particularly in the Central African Republic (CAR), which in recent years has become a hub for Russian security services on the continent.

Now under state control, Russia-Africa networks have become more official and the careers of their leaders are easier to identify as most of them come from the Russian Ministry of Defense or the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

That's according to the joint investigation published on Thursday, December 7, by the independent website All Eyes on Wagner (AEOW) associated with Radio Liberty – a media outlet funded by the US Congress – which revealed the names and photographs of some of the key Russian officials responsible for coordinating Russia's actions in Mali, Burkina Faso and CAR.

According to the investigation, Moscow's new strongman in Bangui is Denis Pavlov, a "diplomat" recently appointed to the Russian embassy in the CAR capital. He is in charge of security partnership with the Central African Police Headquarters.

Fluent in French, the diplomat is, in fact, an SVR officer. "We have identified him as the head of the Russian foreign service post in the Central African Republic," confirmed a European diplomatic source onsite to Le Monde. The SVR officer had worked for a long time undercover in the Russian missions to UNESCO in Paris (2006-2007), the UN in Geneva (2011-2012) and most recently the European Union in Brussels, a post he left in the spring of 2023. However, he was not on the list of 48 Russian spies expelled by Belgium in 2022.

According to AEOW, Pavlov's appointment proves that "Russian intelligence services are now taking Central African affairs in hand." It has to be said that CAR is strategic for Russia, the Bangui airport having become Russia's logistics hub in Africa. Present in the country since 2017, Wagner's mercenaries have infiltrated the security structures – for which they provide training.

"Beyond training services, the Wagner Group has been well established in the country’s security ecosystem. According to several sources, its executives enter and leave police offices as if they were their homes, occupy offices and barracks and are accused of violence against armed forces and police forces. They also lead and participate in the operations of the Central African Armed Forces but also the country’s Internal Security Forces," the investigation detailed.

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