Officially, they were only
“instructors”
.
Half a thousand men dispatched to the Central African Republic by Moscow, under a defense agreement signed in 2017, to supervise the meager Faca (Central African Armed Forces), 2,600 under-equipped and under-trained men, barely capable of defend the capital against the armed bands that scour the country.
Former Russian soldiers, officially 535 but more likely between 800 and 2000, who
would not "take part in the fighting"
unless they were
"targeted"
, insists the Russian ambassador in the country, Vladimir Titorenko.
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On February 15, the tone changed.
Russian mercenaries from Bangui enter Bambari, the capital.
They are on the front line, and in contact.
Furious battles break out.
A handful of Seleka rebels find refuge in the main al-Taqwa mosque, where many terrified residents are sheltering.
Impunity
The rest is told in a report by the United Nations working group on the use of mercenaries,
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