On April 19, CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera said that a Russian military base could be established in the eastern region of the country.
"The topic of establishing a Russian military base on the territory of the Central African Republic continues in general to be on the agenda of negotiations in the area of military cooperation between our two countries. However, this topic is not in an active phase. There has been no substantive discussion of the issues of the timing and location of its deployment and the number of the military contingent so far," the ambassador said.
The CAR was plunged into a security crisis by a coup in 2013, followed by violence between Muslim-majority Seleka and Christian anti-Balaka fighters. In February 2019, Touadera and the leaders of 14 rebel groups signed a peace agreement, consenting to an inclusive general election in a bid to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. However, the country saw another outburst of violence over the results of the 2020 presidential election, when Touadera’s opponents accused him of electoral fraud.
In early 2018, Russia sent its first military instructors to the CAR at the request of the government. As of February 2022, a total of 1,135 Russian instructors have been operating in the country, training military personnel of the CAR army. Moscow has stressed that Russian representatives are not involved in hostilities and were deployed in the CAR with the notification of the UN Security Council.