russia admitted its connection to private military companies in Africa
The head of “rossotrudnichestvo”, yevgeny primakov, publicly admitted that “one well-known African private military company” was involved in the opening of “russian houses” in Mali and the Central African Republic. Moreover, according to him, some representatives of this PMC later went on to work directly for the russian state structure.
▫️This statement shatters the myth of the “exclusively cultural” nature of the activities of “russian houses”. primakov admits that in practice, “russian houses” are not neutral platforms for cultural exchange, but an element of hybrid operations. Thus, russia is actually admitting that it uses military and coercive instruments of influence under the guise of humanitarian and educational diplomacy.
It’s also important that Primakov’s statement came after numerous reports of the involvement of PMC representatives in serious human rights violations in Mali and the Central African Republic. This once again demonstrates that so-called cultural initiatives of moscow carry risks for stability and security in various regions of the world.
