Russian military advisers will continue their work with troops in the Central African Republic (CAR), but the operations in the country conducted by the Wagner mercenary group were its own business, the Reuters news agency quotes a Kremlin spokesperson as saying.
Dmitry Peskov’s comments seem to have done little to clear up the fate of the thousands of Russian mercenaries deployed in Africa following the failed weekend mutiny.
They are active in the CAR fighting rebels and in Mali helping the junta in its battle against Islamist militants.
Wagner has a network of companies associated with it – and they have pursued commercial activities, from gold mining to making vodka, in countries where the mercenary group has security missions.
“We have state co-operation with the Central African Republic, we will continue it, it is supported by the necessary agreements, and, of course, our military advisers will continue their activities in the necessary and demanded quantity,” Mr Peskov said on Wednesday morning, Reuters reports.
“The company [Wagner] had an independent business there, and the state [of Russia] had nothing to do with this business.
“Yesterday, President [Vladimir] Putin spoke about quite significant amounts of money that were allocated [to Wagner] through the Ministry of Defence. He named these figures, but the company was also engaged in its own business, which has nothing to do with the state.”