CNN
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A Russian national closely linked to the Wagner Group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has been wounded in an assassination attempt in the Central African Republic, according to Prigozhin and Russian officials.
According to the press service of Prigozhin’s holding company Concorde, Dmitry Saty, who ran the “Russian House” in the capital of CAR, Bangui, received a package that exploded in his hands.
Prigozhin said that City’s last words before falling unconscious and being taken to hospital were: “I saw a note: ‘This is for you from all the French, the Russians will get out of Africa.'”
Wagner’s presence in the CAR, where it trains and fights alongside local armed forces, has been controversial. CNN the inspection Wagner and related entities have been linked to the lucrative diamond trade in Central Africa, as well as numerous human rights abuses in the country, where the military is fighting several rebel groups.
A CNN team met Syty in 2019, when he was involved in mediating between the CAR government and rebel groups. He was also the founder of a diamond company linked to Prigozhin’s business empire.
Prigozhin accused France of being behind the attack on Syty.
“On February 1, 2022, the ‘Russian House’ was opened in the Central African Republic, which was oppressed for hundreds of years by the French, who exterminated the population and plundered the property of the Central African Republic. It is headed by Russia and the Central African Dmitri Sitti, a patriot of the republic.
“On November 11, Dimitri Sitti received a package from Togo containing a photograph of his son, who lives in France. It contained a note saying that next time he would receive his son’s head if ‘the Russians do not get out of the African continent and open the doors to the French.’
Prigozhin said: “Today he received another package. Despite all instructions to observe security measures, Dmitri Sitti, in the heat of the moment and thinking his son’s head was in the package, opened it. There was an explosion.
CNN is unable to verify Prigozhin’s allegations.
“I have already applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to start the process of declaring France a state sponsor of terrorism, as well as to conduct a thorough investigation of the terrorist methods of France and its Western allies – the United States and Other. ”
A Russian group in CAR associated with the Russian House in Bangui said Sati’s “condition is serious and doctors are fighting for his life.”
The official Russian news agency TASS quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying: “The assassination attempt on the head of the Russian household in the Central African Republic is an inhumane terrorist act that requires the strongest condemnation.”
He said: “Russia will make every effort to find the organizers of the assassination attempt on the head of the Russian House in the Central African Republic. The Russian Federation will not be intimidated by terrorists and will not close the Russian House in the Central African Republic.