AllAfrica reported that the Central African Republic granted a forestry permit to a company called Bois Rouge in February 2021, coinciding with the recapture of territory from rebels by government troops and Russian mercenaries. The decree covered 186,596 hectares in the south-western Lobaye region, an area larger than Greater London. According to the US Treasury, the concession was awarded to a company that had never previously logged timber, serving instead as a payment mechanism for the Wagner Group’s military services.
The company, registered in Bangui in March 2019, was presented as a local firm but was managed by Russian directors, including Artem Tolmachov. A UK parliamentary inquiry later identified Tolmachov as the commercial director, linking him to other entities tied to Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. The permit included generous terms, such as a moratorium on concession rent and export tax, which researchers described as unlawful. The company built its sawmill in Boda, a town recently cleared of rebels, and staged logs at a military base before exporting them through Cameroon.
Timber species such as sapele and iroko were exported primarily to Turkey, the UAE, and China, with some shipments reaching Europe. Earthsight found that a Danish firm received six shipments of sapele in 2022, valued at an estimated €3.4 million. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime estimated that the company exported 5,810 cubic meters in 2023, worth $1.37 million. Despite these figures, the profit was far lower than early forecasts, with estimates ranging from $1 million to $5 million.
Sanctions began in September 2023 when the US Treasury’s OFAC designated the company, followed by a UK sanction in June 2024. The company renamed itself Wood International Group and later Société Industrielle Forestière, but activity slowed significantly. By September 2024, satellite images showed the Boda sawmill abandoned. The arrangement is described as "conflict timber," where resources serve as payment for protection rather than simple trade.
The model persists even as Wagner’s operations are folded into Africa Corps. President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, re-elected in December 2025, visited Moscow in March 2026 to reaffirm security ties. While the timber extraction has stopped, the underlying structure of using resources for military protection remains embedded in the presidential circle, with former Wagner commanders resisting direct command from Moscow’s Defence Ministry.