Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia and the Central African Republic are developing relations in all areas, including security.

The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with President of the Central African Republic Faustin Archange Touadera on January 16.

“We are developing relations with the Central African Republic in all possible areas, including a very sensitive area related to security, and we intend to further develop this cooperation.

“We have many developments and many long-term plans, all of which will be on the agenda of Mr Touadera’s talks with President Putin,” Mr Peskov told reporters.

Russia has rapidly expanded its influence in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the last few years, using military support to become President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s closest ally.

Prone to coups, rebellions, and communal strife, CAR has been engulfed in conflict for over twenty years.

While the government wields authority in the capital, Bangui, it is largely absent from the provinces, where an array of rebels and other armed groups exercise their form of predatory rule.

Disappointed by the inability of UN peacekeepers to extend the state’s writ, Mr Touadéra turned to Russia in 2017, securing weapons and military instructors to bolster CAR’s shambolic army after the UN Security Council approved an exemption to the arms embargo on the country.

Today, Russian advisers have the government’s ear in military, political and economic matters.

(RIA Novosti/NAN)