The Russian actors operating in the Central African Republic over the past few years are now well known. Valery Zakharov, a former member of the FSB, is President Touadera's security adviser1 , a position previously held by Jean-Claude Mantion, a member of the DGSE2 whose influence was such that he was considered a true 'proconsul'. Libération attributed him this remark3 to Central African students : "If you don't know, there is the President, and behind him, there is me, and behind me, there is the wall". Valery Zakharov is in charge of Faustin-Archange Touadera's presidential guard, and is said to be behind Lobaye Invest and Sewa Securité Services, two companies registered under Central African law.
Lobaye Invest is a mining company, which funds other activities in CAR, particularly in the media: Radio Lengo Songo, for example, created in 20184 , has received funding from the Russian embassy5 and from Lobaye Invest. Lobaye Invest financed6 a pro-Russian propaganda cartoon for children7 , presenting France and the United States as hyenas attacking the CAR. Lobaye Invest was registered in 2017 by Yevgeny Khodotov8 , former director of M-Finance, and has been operating gold and diamond mines since August 2018. Lobaye Invest has been sanctioned9 by the US as a company controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the "Putin's chef", who, simply put, is to Vladimir Putin and Wagner, what Jacques Foccart was to Charles De Gaulle and Bob Denard.
Prigozhin runs a conglomerate internally called "the company" (Компании10 ), which operate in different sectors : mining, private military companies (Wagner Group, Sewa Security Services...), media, and troll factories in charge of pro-Russian propaganda and destabilisation of foreign countries. If the IRA (Internet Research Agency), a troll farm based in St. Petersburg, is well known for its interference in the US presidential elections, other troll farms operate elsewhere in the world, particularly in Africa, such as in Nigeria11 or Ghana12 , where students can earn money13 by publishing pro-Russian and anti-Western content on social media : an article of 1000 words can earn $40.
In CAR, where a journalist earns between CFA 20,000 (€30) and CFA 100,000 (€150) per month, and a freelancer CFA 25,000 per month14 , the Zakharov team pays15 journalists CFA 20,000 to write or publish an anti-French article.
Eliott Aubert et Alexandre Garnier report that the practice is confirmed by Vincent Mambachaka, the president of Linga Tere16 : "It's obvious, when I read a paper I can tell if the person is paid. This is not journalism. Apart from two or three newspapers, the rest is Russian manipulation."
The same observation was made by Saber Jendoubi17 : "It is common for journalists to accept to write pro-Russian papers in exchange for money. It doesn't matter what they write, they want to eat."
An investigation by Belingcat18 establishes the collaboration between Prigozhin's conglomerate and the Kremlin (GRU and Ministry of Defence). In particular, Colonel Konstantin Pikalov served as a liaison between Prigozhin's political technologists and the Russian Ministry of Defence. In the CAR, he is seen alongside Valery Zakaharov when CNN was conducting an investigation19 that a video 20 of RIA FAN (an agency located in the same building as the IRA) tried to discredit.
Prigozhin's influence policy in Africa relies on far-right-actors21 to foster anti-Western and pro-Russian sentiment in Africa. An investigation by dossier center22 reveals internal documents of the "company" indicating that one of the objectives of its manipulation campaigns is to create "negroid racial chauvinism" («негроидного» расового шовинизма23 ).
And this influence policy goes as far as legitimising and encouraging coups in Africa, with Prigozhin himself encouraging these coups on VK24 , explaining that it is now "the time of the colonels" (Пришло время полковников).
All these activities are now pretty much well known. On the other hand, the recent documentary by Jousset and Bolchakova25 on the Prigozhin conglomerate provides new information, including an exceptional testimony by Ludovic Ledo on the involvement of the Central African presidency in the manipulation of African opinions.
Ludovic Ledo, a former spokesperson for Faustin-Archange Touadera's youth movement, revealed the existence and activities of a secret bureau in the Central African presidency of which he was a member: the BIC (Bureau d'Information et de Communication). He explains how Evgueny Prigozhin's political technologists organised and trained this secret bureau, dedicated to political espionage and manipulation on social media such as Facebook. While the use of social media by Russian propaganda in Africa was known (and takedown by Facebook as part of the fight against what this BigTech calls "coordinated inauthentic behaviour"26 ), no one had previously established that these operations were conducted from a secret bureau in the Central African presidency.
Ludovic Ledo reveals that Prigozhin's teams trained BIC members in hacking Facebook accounts, enabling daily surveillance, the results of which were transmitted to President Touadéra and Valery Zakharov. In parallel to the surveillance of political opponents, the BIC is responsible for the dissemination of Russian propaganda on social media: Ludovic Ledo mentions three hundred fake Facebook accounts used to manipulate opinion and foster anti-French sentiment. The Russians provide photos to illustrate the fake news spread by the BIC, without worrying about their credibility. After receiving threats, Ludovic Ledo had to leave the CAR and is now a refugee in France.
Jousset and Bolchakova's investigation was in a way a victim of this exceptional testimony, which provoked obfuscation operations that deprived it of the media coverage it should have had.