SOCHI. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Russia is complying with every restriction on arms supply to the Central African Republic, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said in a statement on Thursday.
"Russia is fully honoring its international obligations," the spokesman said.
The Central African Republic can be supplied with weapons only for the purposes of the UN peacekeeping mission, he said.
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera thanked Russia on Wednesday for supplying weapons and training servicemen of the national army.
"We have laid perfect groundwork in the military area. You are helping train our troops and gendarmes and modernize our army. Russia delivered a shipment of weapons to the CAR in 2019, which fully met our demand for small arms," Touadera said at his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We hail the fact that Russian partners supply us with non-lethal weapons with calibers smaller than 14.5mm and help us bolster our defense capacity," Touadera said.
"We have asked the Russian Defense Ministry to train four helicopter pilots. [...] The second shipment of Russian weapons has enabled us to maintain the efficiency of our army," he said.
"A UN Security Council resolution passed on September 12 eased the [arms] embargo [on the Central African Republic]," Touadera said.
"We welcome the delivery of Russian weapons. The sanctions were imposed in 2013, when the CAR did not have a legitimate government. Now it looks like the sanctions are aimed against the legitimate government, because militants illegally obtain weapons by circumventing the embargo, and we are unable to regain control over the entire national territory," he said.