How does the center of the 'Wagner empire' function after the loss of leader Prigozhin?

Since the June coup and Prigozhin's death two months later in a plane crash, the Wagner group has maintained thousands of fighters, a range of businesses and a number of soft power initiatives in the African region.

How does the Wagner Center work after the loss of Prigozhin? Figure 1 — Russian Cultural Center, La Maison Russe, in the Central African Republic. Photo: CNN

Wagner’s influence in CAR remains significant. “Maison Russe is the central hub for Wagner’s operations in the Central African Republic,” said Nathalia Dukhan, a senior investigator at The Sentry, a US nonprofit that monitors Wagner.

According to The Sentry, the center is home to a variety of activities related to Wagner's business endeavors, and is used by the group to sell gold and diamonds, as well as entertain VIPs.

The Wagner group has been active in the Central African Republic since at least 2018, protecting President Faustin-Archange Touadera and training army recruits. Wagner troops have fought rebels in the country’s civil conflict, which has lasted more than a decade. Wagner has won a series of diamond and gold mining contracts and has a large influence in the logging industry.

All Eyes on Wagner, an open-source initiative that tracks the group, said Maison Russe was founded as a business in Bangui but had no links to Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian state agency that coordinates cultural institutes around the world.

The centre has long been headed by Dmitry Syty, a former deputy to Mr Prigozhin who played a “leading role” in the group in CAR, according to the Council of Europe.

But Syty, who was sanctioned by the European Union and the United States “for serious human rights violations” and survived an assassination attempt in December 2022, may have been replaced.

Local media recently reported that a new director had taken over at Maison Russe, rumored to be Nafisa Kiryanova. However, there is no evidence that the director had any connection to Wagner before April.

Access to the center is also heavily restricted. No Western journalists have been granted access, and requests to film have been repeatedly denied by the new director.

Based on social media accounts and other linked profiles, CNN discovered that she also goes by another name: Anfisa Alexandrovna Kiryanova. A YouTube channel linked to Kiryanova revealed that she had been sharing cosmetic review videos for nine months. In her online resume, she said she worked as a translator and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and Moscow State Linguistic University.

According to Mr. Fidèle Gouandjika, senior advisor to President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra, despite the death of the leader Prigozhin, Wagner's activities have not changed much.

“The Russians brought us peace,” Gouandjika said. “We are happy that Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a short time, drove out the rebels... Everything will be the same as yesterday.”

Quoc Thien (according to CNN)

Source