he defence minister of the Central African Republic said in an interview published Thursday that the chief-of-staff of the conflict-riven nation’s army had been in Russia for training.

Russia’s influence in CAR has been growing since 2017, when the UN-backed government there called for help to fight militias rampaging through the country.

Moscow has already supplied weapons, military officers, at least 170 military “trainers” and a security adviser to work with President Faustin-Archange Touadera.

“As of this month, 1,300 of our army’s soldiers have been instructed and trained” at a Russian facility in CAR, minister Marie Noelle Koyara told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.