MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - The Russian Ambassador to the Central African Republic (CAR) has denied reports alleging that hundreds of Russian military service members have arrived in the country to help the local authorities quash a mutiny attempt.
"Except five officials of the Russian Defense Ministry's mission to the CAR Defense Ministry in Bangui and 14 Russian officers within the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the CAR (MINUSCA), there are no other Russian military personnel here," Russian Ambassador to the CAR Vladimir Titorenko told Interfax on Tuesday.
"Some instructors are also working here to train the CAR army at a request of this country's government. They are rotated from time to time," he said.
CAR government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui had said on Monday that Russia had sent several hundred troops with weapons and gear to the CAR to assist its authorities in quashing a coup attempt. Some French media said the Russian military arrived in the CAR on Sunday.
Titorenko said there was no danger of a military coup in the country at the moment.
"There have only been illegal activities of former CAR President Francois Bozize, who is trying to destabilize the situation in the country and thwart the election, the first round of which is scheduled for December 27, in revenge for the fact that the CAR Constitutional Court ruled on December 3 to bar him from the presidential race," he said.
There is no danger to the Russian citizens staying in the CAR in the context of said events, and all Russian missions in the country are working as usual, he said.
About two-thirds of the CAR territory is currently occupied by various rebel groups. Three of them announced their unification and started an offensive on the CAR capital Bangoui controlled by the government on Friday evening. Vladimir Monteiro, spokesperson for the MINUSCA peacekeeping force, said on Sunday that the rebels were stopped at several locations.
The CAR authorities blamed Bozize for the offensive, but the ex-president's party has dismissed the accusations.
The CAR is to hold a presidential election on December 27. Incumbent President Fausti Archange Touadera is seen as the most likely winner.