Evgeny Primakov, head of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs (Rossotrudnichestvo), has officially confirmed that Russian Houses in several African countries were opened by a “well-known private military company.” In an interview with Vedomosti, he added that some members of that PMC now work at Rossotrudnichestvo.
“We’ve signed about 26 partnership agreements for Russian House centers. Fourteen of them are in Africa. We were delighted to sign similar agreements with Russian Houses that one well-known African PMC opened in Mali and the CAR.”
“A few very capable guys from that team — real ‘eggheads’ — have come to work with us, incredibly smart. They know the field and can make something out of nothing. With our limited resources, they do amazing things. We’d like to be more helpful to our partner Russian Houses. To do that, we need to change legislation or find other support tools through funds, friendly organizations, NGOs.”
In December, TASS reported that nine Russian Houses are operating in Africa: two in Egypt and one each in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia, Ethiopia and South Africa.
Back in 2024, Deutsche Welle called the head of the Russian House in the Central African Republic, Dmitry Sityi, a key figure in the leadership of the Wagner private military company. For his association with the group, Sityi was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and Canada. In an interview with DW, he said he considers himself first and foremost “a cultural envoy of Russia,” but acknowledged that at times, at the request of CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, he carried out “disarmament missions” involving armed groups in the Central African Republic.
Wagner mercenaries worked with authorities in the CAR and Mali, helping them fight militants linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS. After the death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian authorities replaced the group’s fighters in Africa with the Defense Ministry’s Africa Corps.
