Press release on accusations addressed to Russian instructors in the Central African Republic
We have taken note of a statement by US Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield dated 30 June 2021, in which the US delegation produced another batch of baseless accusations addressed to the Russian instructors that are working in the Central African Republic.
The statement refers to a report by the Panel of Experts. However the segment of this report that touches upon the assistance provided by the Russian instructors cannot be characterized as anything other than a forgery. It is fully based on anonymous or biased sources, groundless, provocative and politically motivated. The report does not provide concrete sources of information, citing the need to guarantee safety of “eyewitnesses”. In parallel to it, the report basically “legitimizes” biased accounts and allegations by some opposition Media resources. Cited “facts” and “evidence” stand up to no criticism. All of them founder on the counterarguments and rebuttal that we presented i.a. during the discussion of the document in the Sanctions Committee. But our say was simply ignored; the American delegation chose to dismiss the facts that we provided. If this is going to continue, the Sanctions Committee will turn into a “gossip club”. However our US colleagues do not seem concerned about that as long as the experts make “the right” (i.e. beneficial for Washington) conclusions.
In the meantime, Director General of the European Union Military Staff Hervé Bléjean disclosed the real rationale behind the actions of our Western colleagues in a statement that he delivered at a conference in Washington. He admitted to be convincing the leadership of Bangui to waive the services of Russian instructors and use help of Western states in addressing CAR’s security problems. Such arguments can work only for those who have a short historical memory or stick to a knowingly biased approach. As for those who directly have to do with high professionalism of the Russian instructors in the Central African Republic, including the CAR authorities, they give the opposite assessment to the activity of Russian trainers who work for the benefit of that African country.
We remind again that Russian instructors are deployed in the CAR in the framework of bilateral agreements. They are there on an official mission aimed at training the national army and providing consultative and humanitarian support to the security forces of the host state. Sanctions Committee 2127 of the Security Council was informed of their deployment.
We would like to stress once again that the CAR and Africa at large should not be an arena for confrontation. Russian will further stand ready to cooperate with all constructive forces. However, we will firmly preclude any attempts to cast a shadow on our cooperation with the Africans that spread false or unverified information.
