Russia announced that it would send 30 military personnel to the Central Africa Republic (CAR) who would join the United Nations mission in the country. The UN mission is geared at stabilizing the African country that has been ridden by civil war.
The Russian deployment whose arrival date in CAR is yet to be announced were decreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in April in what is being viewed as a significant move in the CAR-Russia relations.
Previously, CAR appealed for help against militia groups in 2017, Russia’s donation of weapons was chosen over former colonizer, France with whom they have hard longer relations. By early February 2018, Russia had sent nine planes with weapons along with dozens of contractors to train local soldiers and secure mining projects, marking the start of its highest-profile military foray in sub-Saharan Africa for decades.
Russia is seemingly trying to revive some of the relationships that lapsed after the Soviet Union’s collapse and is expected to establish a five-person team at CAR’s defense ministry. Since Western nations sanctioned Russia for annexing Crimea in 2014, Moscow has signed 19 military cooperation deals in sub-Saharan Africa, including with Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
