CAFRICA-RUSSIA-POLITICS-DEFENCE-CULTURE-MONUMENT

This photograph taken on December 3, 2024, shows the newly-inaugurated bronze statue in the likeness of the late Wagner private mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (L), and his right-hand man Dmitru Utkin (R), erected in front of the "Maison Russe" (Russian House) in Bangui. Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, died with nine other people aboard a plane flying from Moscow to Saint Petersburg on August 23, 2023. Unlike other African countries where the Wagner paramilitary has been reconstituted under the name "Africa Corps", it continues to operate under the Wagner name in the Central African Republic. It was invited into the country by President Faustin Archange Touadera in 2018, with its subsidiaries winning contracts to operate gold and diamond mines. (Photo by Annela NIAMOLO / AFP) (Photo by ANNELA NIAMOLO/AFP via Getty Images)