Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, a key ally of Russia’s, secured a third term following an election critics said was neither free nor fair.
Touadéra — who won 76% of the vote, according to provisional results — in 2023 oversaw the removal of presidential term limits, allowing him to maintain a firm grip over a country that has faced steep security and economic challenges since insurgency destabilized the nation in 2013. CAR has forged an increasingly close alliance with Russia, first as a major client of the now-defunct Russian paramilitary group Wagner and later through the Africa Corps operations Moscow put together in Wagner’s place.
Analysts say Russia’s ongoing security assistance comes in exchange for CAR’s resources, particularly gold and diamonds. Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a Moscow summit with Touadéra last year, said trade between both countries was small in “absolute figures” but that “turnover has increased almost eightfold over the past year.”