Head of Russian House in CAR Hospitalized After Assassination Attempt – Russian Embassy
In the photo: Dmitry Syty, the general director of the Russian House in the Central African Republic (CAR), (in the foreground) is waiting for the hand of President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
Muhammad OsmanMOSCOW (Sputnik) – The general director of the Russian House in the Central African Republic (CAR), Dmitry Syty, was hospitalized in Bangui after an assassination attempt, the press attache of the Russian Embassy, Vladislav Ilin, told Sputnik on Friday. “This morning, an assassination attempt was made against the general director of the Russian House Mr. Syty. He is in hospital,” Ilin said.The head of the Russian humanitarian mission was said to have received a package containing an explosive that detonated in his hands. His condition is serious; doctors are fighting for his life.However, later the Russian Embassy told Sputnik that Syty’s situation wasn’t life-threatening; he was just shell-shocked. The embassy added that the attack took place at Syty’s home, not on the territory of the Russian embassy.The police of the Central African Republic told Sputnik that they consider the attempt on the life of the director general of the Russian House a terrorist act, as he had previously received threats.The assassination attempt on Dimitry Syty, the head of the Russian House in the Central African Republic, is a terrorist attack, said the head of Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov.In a statement, the Commonwealth of Officers for International Security (COIS), an organization that provides training services to the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), police and gendarmerie of the CAR, denounced the attack on the Russian official, saying that those behind the attack are “real terrorists.”
“The enemies of peace in the Central African Republic have shown their true colors. They act like real terrorists, targeting the Russian humanitarian mission,” the COIS told Sputnik. “The friendly ties between Russia and the Central African Republic and the growing cooperation between the two countries are the point of frustration for some world powers who could be responsible for the attack on Dimitry Syty.”
The COIS went further to suggest that “a French military contingent could be behind this terrorist attack,” arguing that the attack on Syty took place just a day after the official announcement from the French side that the final 47 French soldiers had left the CAR.“[The] Russian House in Bangui is a cultural and educational place that organizes various humanitarian events for residents of the Central African Republic and acts as a platform for Central Africans to familiarize themselves with Russian culture,” the COIS noted.The COIS said of Syty that he “treats all Central Africans with deep respect and sincerely works to strengthen friendly relations between our countries.”The Russian Cultural Center “Russian House” is the representative office of Russia’s Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) in the Central African Republic. It opened in Bangui on February 1, 2022.
