His name is Dimitri Sytii, he was born in Minsk (Belarus) 34 years ago and is currently the director of Russia House in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. Furthermore, he is the strongman of the Wagner paramilitary group in the Sahel. For this reason he has been sanctioned by Spain and the rest of the countries of the European Union. “Dimitri Sytii has a prominent role in the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic and close ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin [el líder del grupo]& rdquor ;, read in the BOE of February 25, which replicates the text issued by Brussels. Included in the sanction are all the details of Sytii (also written as Sytyi), including the address of his official residence in Saint Petersburg.,
He is considered responsible for carrying out the “influence strategy of the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic & rdquor ;. Although the House of Russia It is not officially part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is considered to be nothing more than a “cultural branch& rdquor; of the Kremlin. Only that it projects videos extolling the figure of a violent and radical paramilitary group like Wagner.
The Wagner group, in addition to military operations, helps the local dictatorships (of Mali or the Central African Republic) in imposing a political story for the masses, explains to this newspaper a security specialist in the Sahel who prefers not to give her name by name. fear of retaliation. “In Mali, for example, they pay influencers to give the government version & rdquor ;, she explains. In addition, they distribute false and manipulated news.
Wagner’s killings and torture in the Sahel
“The Wagner Group is included in the list for committing serious human rights abuses that include torture and executions and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary homicides in several countries, including the Central African Republic & rdquor ;, read as an explanation of the sanction in the European text . “Given his influential position in the Central African Republic and his prominent role in the Wagner Group, he is responsible for the serious human rights abuses committed by the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic& rdquor ;.
Dimitri Sytyi lived in Barcelona between 2011 and 2012, years in which he obtained a Master’s in Cultural Management from the International University of Catalonia, according to data from his resume, to which the investigative NGO Dossier Center has had access and has published in All Eyes on Wagner, an open source intelligence organization (OSINT) that analyzes all available data on members of the organization of mercenaries. In fact, according to these experts, Sytyi is part of this “new generation of Russians educated in European secondary schools, who have traveled all over Europe & rdquor ;. He also studied international business at the State University of Economics and Finance in Saint Petersburg from 2006 to 2011, where he met his wife. He then did a master’s degree in international marketing and business development at Skema Business School in Paris, from 2014 to 2015.
Dimitri Sytyi’s resume, Wagner’s strong man in the Sahel. /
On December 16, 2022, Sytii was seriously injured. after the explosion of a package bomb received at the House of Russia in the Central African capital, as reported by the Russian state news agency TAAS. Wagner’s Telegram channel, accused France as responsible for the attack. Wagner’s leader assured that it was an attack against his strongman in the Sahel. According to Prigozhin, on the package he said that he was on behalf of “all the French” so that “the Russians leave Africa.”
Wagner destabilizes the Sahel
The Wagner mercenary group has become known to the general public for its decisive role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It recruits prisoners in jails and takes them as cannon fodder to the Donbas front. Now, his role is being key in battles like the one in the city of Bajmut. The company’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is a regime strongman who is very close to the president, Vladimir Putin. He is being critical of the role of generals and other officers in the Russian Armed Forces.
But Wagner was already an old acquaintance for the European chancelleries for his destabilizing role in the Sahel, the strip of sub-Saharan countries that cross the continent (Mali, the Central African Republic, Niger, Sudan, among others) and most of which suffer strong violent phenomena. , usually of jihadist origin. Russian paramilitaries are accused of committing gross violations of human rights and to extract natural resources for their benefit, mainly gold and diamonds, but also uranium. The local satraps give them to them in exchange for helping them “clean up & rdquor; their countries from opponents or terrorists. They don’t ask awkward questions. Wagner has just publicly acknowledged what the whole world knew: that he is present in Mali helping the government in its fight against jihadism. “In Mali, EI and Al-Qaeda have come together to fight against PMC Wagner& rdquor ;, its leader, Yevgueni Prigozhin, published last Thursday on Telegram, according to the expert journalist in Africa Matteo Maillard.
In the Central African Republic, where Dimitri Sytyi works, a civil war has been going on for a decade, now of low intensity. During years, the massacres followed one another, and the denunciations of the involvement of Wagner soldiers in the crimes against civilians produced in them, as well. Last year, Russian mercenaries allegedly killed hundreds of civilians in an offensive launched against towns across the country, including dozens of miners in villages, according to local media.
There is also evidence of Russian arms shipments to the Central African Republic as early as at least 2017, when Moscow used its seat on the United Nations Security Council to win an exception to the embargo. That year, France had decided to withdraw its troops from its former colony, and Wagner filled the void, writes Paul Stronskia researcher at the Carnegie Institution.
Wagner has simultaneously launched disinformation campaigns, one of Sytii’s alleged specialties. They also reportedly trained dictatorial governments in the region in creating disinformation media campaigns against opposition groups. According to the Dossier Center, Sytii has worked at the Internet Research Agency, Russian body for manipulation of public opinion. This agency, created in 2014 and based in Saint Petersburg, became known for disinformation attacks during the 2016 United States presidential elections. It is accused by the United States Department of Justice of interfering in the United States electoral process. .
Sytiii arrived in the Central African Republic in 2017. A year later, it would become a shareholder of the company Lobaye Invest SARL, affiliated with the Wagner group since August 10, 2018. The company is present in diamond and gold mining activities, according to the information obtained by the Dossier Center. Wagner’s agreement with the presidency of the Central African Republic consists, in addition to security issues, in carrying out the so-called “strategic communication”, that is, propaganda. For this they finance a radio station (Lengo Songo) or newspapers like Le Monde En Vrai. They also pay Central African journalists 20,000 FCFA (the equivalent of 30 euros) to cover events organized by Russia or to write articles critical of France.
Wagner in the Sahel
According to the 2022 Global Terrorism Index, half of all deaths related to terrorism in the world They occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger head the list.
The focus of greatest concern is Mali. There, the coup government has thrown itself into the arms of the Russian militia to help it fight against the different Islamist groups. It has expelled the French Army, which had undertaken a mission to ccombat the jihadist threat in the region with thousands of soldiers, 55 of whom died in combat.
Related news
United Nations has documented “violations of human rights and international humanitarian law of the Malian Armed Forces and foreign security personnel& rdquor ;, a euphemism in reference to Wagner. In Mali alone, since this paramilitary group went into action, civilian deaths have quadrupled, from 500 in 2020 to 2,000 in 2021, says Colin Clarke, director of the Soufan Group, in Foreign Policy magazine.
Wagner is a group of mercenaries. Get paid for his actions. In the Central African Republic, says the aforementioned expert, he did it for gold. In Mali, the problem he is having is that the main mines are controlled by strong military groups, some of a jihadist nature. What Wagner would be doing with these killings is “cleaning up & rdquor; the area to be able to keep the extraction of precious metals. And, in this context, Dimitri Sytii, a Russian from St. Petersburg, who studied cultural management in Barcelona and who is sanctioned by Spain, is in charge of his strategic communications.