Central African Republic: Under Russian influence FRANCE 24 English

Since 2018, mercenaries from Russia s Wagner Group, an effective secret army of the Kremlin, have been active in Central African Republic. They protect the impoverished country s regime in exchange for valuable mineral resources and deploy a massive propaganda campaign to cover up the massacres, rapes and torture they are accused of. Taking advantage of France s loss of influence in its former colony, Russia is seen to be using Central African Republic a country ripped apart by decades of civil war as a testing ground in a new battle for global influence. FRANCE 24 s Carol Valade and Clément Di Roma report.