Central African Republic Ambassador to Moscow Leon Dodonu-Punagaza evaluated the statements of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the assassination attempt on Dmitry Sytoy, head of Russia House in the Central African Republic.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna previously denied accusations that Paris was involved in the explosion at Russia House and described the photo taken from the scene as propaganda. The photo shows threats from “all the French” and a note demanding that the Russians “get out of Africa”.
“This is a good example of misinformation and Russian propaganda and sometimes the bizarre imagination that characterizes this propaganda,” the minister said in an interview with Agence France Presse.
In response, the OAC ambassador in Moscow said that “only the French” may have left a threatening note.
What happened is terrible. What [глава МИД Франции] The column says that this is Russian propaganda – it defends itself. They say that France means freedom and democracy, but they support terrorism… They don’t believe the official images, the ones published in the newspapers, it’s generally terrible,” he said.
“It was the French who wrote that all Russians should leave Africa. Why did they remove their soldiers from the VEHICLE? They removed it, they removed it, and now they regret it,” he said.
Earlier, Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported that Bangui police found it at the site of the explosion in Sytyi’s office. On a piece of paper was written in Russian “This is for you from all the French. The Russians will leave Africa.”
Details of the assassination attempt
Dmitry Syty, Speaker of the Russian Assembly in the Central African Republic, was wounded in an assassination attempt on 16 December. He was delivered a package containing explosives that exploded in his hand.
“The head of the Russian House received and opened an anonymous package on Friday, there was an explosion,” a representative from the Russian embassy said. – The wounds are serious. The head of the Russian House was hospitalized.”
The embassy noted that his health condition was assessed as “serious” but not life-threatening. Doctors say it’s bruises and blood loss.”
Police described the incident as a terrorist attack. Bienvenyu Zokue, head of CAR police, told RIA Novosti that Syty had already received threats and had approached the authorities about it.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed the view that the assassination attempt was “intended to hinder the activities of the House of Russia in Bangui and, more broadly, to undermine the successful development of friendly relations between the two countries.”
The day before the assassination attempt, the French Ministry of Defense announced that the last 130 French soldiers in the republic had left the Central African Republic as part of a logistics mission.
UN response
The UN condemned the attack on the head of the “Russian House”.
“We wish him a speedy recovery. We were not asked to cooperate in any way with the investigation. It is clear that we condemn such attacks,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General.
While the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov described the incident as a terrorist attack, the Russian Foreign Ministry made the same assessment. They promised to identify the culprit in the explosion, but did not put forward specific charges.
“International terrorism knows no borders, it can happen anywhere and anytime. “Of course we have to be very careful,” said Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian President’s Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa.
Russian Houses are the foreign representations of Rossotrudnichestvo, where exhibitions and concerts are held. The Russian House in the Central African Republic opened on February 1, 2022.
After Sytoy was hospitalized, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that he received a note in November. According to him, the memo threatened to kill Sytyi’s son “if the Russians did not leave the African continent and open the gates to the French”. Prigogine says that the son of the head of the House of Russia lives in France.
The Central African Republic was a French colony until 1960. French media had previously published reviews about PMC Wagner’s work in this country. The presence of Wagner units in Africa was announced by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell.