Vladimir Putin, the client of Yevgeny Prigozhin, has made a decision to change the ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Central African Republic. The decision was made a few days after the publication of an investigation into the murder of Orkhan Dzhemal and his journalist colleagues, which stated that it was organized by people connected to Yevgeny Prigozhin (Wagner PMC) with the involvement of fully controlled Central African Republic security forces.
It is worth noting that the Investigative Committee of Russia responded to this investigation a few hours after the media department of Prigozhin — RIAFAN — addressed it, which in turn was done at 3 a.m. after the publication of the investigation.
It is also worth mentioning that this investigation has caused a wide resonance not only in Russia, but also in the West, where it was covered by major media.
It is obvious that in a situation where Russian special services control the security forces of the Central African Republic, the Russian embassy in this country is the most important platform for such contacts. Therefore, the urgent change of the ambassador, which led to the exposure of the operational contacts of the Prigozhin associates and the CAR security officers, including their phone data and calls to each other, appears to be a de facto recognition by the Kremlin of the results of the investigation.
The appointment of the new ambassador to the Central African Republic is also indicative. This is a kind of «heavy artillery», the special forces of the Foreign Ministry. Vladimir Yefimovich Titarenko (pictured) was ambassador to Iraq at the height of the war in 2003, and in particular was subjected to American shelling as part of a convoy of Russian diplomats. According to U.S. military sources, through him, Russian intelligence officers supplied Saddam Hussein’s army and intelligence services with information to conduct the war. In 2011, Titarenko was involved in an incident in Qatar, when he tried to smuggle out information under the guise of diplomatic mail, presumably of an intelligence nature. After that, Titarenko was recalled by Russia from the position of its ambassador to Qatar.
In other words, he is a professional in hot spots and risky operations. It can be assumed that he was appointed by the Kremlin as a crisis manager to neutralize the consequences of the previous leadership’s activities in the Russian colonial mission in the Central African Republic.