Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World

by Anne Applebaum

A parallel story unfolded in the Central African Republic after the president of that country invited Wagner troops to help him fight off an insurgency as well. Now Wagner mercenaries guard the president and brutally repress his enemies. They run a radio station60 that produces Russian and government propaganda and rails against “modern practices of neocolonialism.” In March 2022, a Russian diplomat instructed61 the Central African Republic’s top court to alter the constitution so that the country’s pro-Russian president could stay in power beyond his two-term limit. When the court’s top judge objected, he was removed. In return for these services,62 the Russians have obtained mining licenses, sometimes by intimidating the previous owners, as well as the right to export diamonds, gold, and timber without paying tax.