Investigations with Impact

The continent received 1,431 pages of internal documents from “The Company”. Building on our previous investigative project in consortium with Forbidden Stories, Dossier Center, iStories and openDemocracy and a network of Russian-speaking independent journalists, we identified Africa Politology, the Wagner Group’s influence arm. Following the death of Evgeny Prigozhin, Africa Politology started to work in concert with the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, transforming its activities into what appears to be the most extensive covert campaign in the Global South aimed at advancing Moscow’s interests. In 2024, the SVR-controlled Politology launched a very targeted campaign in the Central African Republic. Their goal was to shape the perception that the Pope, Catholic and Non-Orthodox Christian Groups were Western agents working to destabilise the country.. The visit of Pope Leo XIV to Africa has reignited Russian military propaganda channels. The Holy See diplomacy and their outreach are seen as strategic levers and proxies of the West in Africa by Russia’s Intelligence Services.

2026 Tour to Africa: “The Pope Goes to Hell”

On March 16th, the Russian MoD (and ex Wagner) affiliated Rybar Africa channel published a post called “The Pope Goes to Hell” in response to Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Cameroon. The message concludes with a thinly veiled warning, echoing recurring influence narratives that portray France as manipulating Cameroonian elites while insinuating collusion between the Holy See and Western powers. It frames the visit not as a diplomatic or religious engagement, but as a potential trigger point:

“The pontiff’s trip to Cameroon is also a stress test for local authorities. Any incident en route by Leo XIV could trigger a crackdown on the Cameroonian leadership by French elites and investors, already tired of the chaos in the once exemplary colony.”

By casting a hypothetical security incident as a pretext for foreign interference, the publication blends disinformation with implicit threat signaling—seeking both to delegitimise the Catholic Church, Western actors and to preemptively shape interpretations of any future instability.

This is not new. Less visible than campaigns targeting the French government, Russian information warfare networks have for years pursued another insidious objective: denigrating the Vatican, Catholic and Non-Orthodox (specifically Non Russian Orthodox Church – Non-ROC -) Christian communities. The Holy See’s diplomatic outreach, combined with the social and political weight of Catholic populations, is viewed by Russian intelligence services as a strategic lever to weaken.

Within this framing, the Vatican is recast as a subversive proxy of Western influence in Africa—making it a priority target for narratives aimed at eroding its credibility, fracturing trust among believers, and ultimately expanding Russia’s own influence on the continent.

Politology’s Shadow: A Catholic Youth Leader, Anti-West Campaigns and Targeting of Non-ROC Christians

On 22nd of December 2023, Socrate Gutenberg Taramboye, leader of the CAR Catholic Youth,  published on Facebook a letter from the Central African Episcopal Conference signed by Cleric Kongbo Gbassinga rejecting the Fiducia Supplicans, the controversial 2023 Vatican declaration allowing informal, non-sacramental blessings of same-sex couples. CAR religious authorities are not alone in this movement: the African continent rejects in mass what is seen as unacceptable and disconnected from African traditional values. Russia capitalizes on this traditionalist sentiment and uses it to turn sympathetic people against a Vatican that they perceive as too “degenerate”.

But Taramboye is not only a young man of faith, he is also a fervent Panafrican activist in CAR involved in different youth political organisations to promote a free Africa. Interestingly his activism takes a new turn in 2024 and he becomes a key voice and amplifier of multiple well-known campaigns designed by Russia to undermine its competitors.

According to a Western source of INPACT/AEOW, one line of attack for Politology has been to target non-ROC Christian and Catholic populations in Africa,especially in the Central African Republic to to get them falsely labeled as U.S. or Western agents sent to destabilize the country. INPACT/AEOW has been able to detect campaigns which are using Politology’s media ecosystem and to confirm it with Politology’s leaked documents obtained by our partner The Continent.

Since 2024, Politology’s approach in Africa has been to leverage civil society organisations to campaign against France and the U.S in African countries. One organisation stands out, the Committee of Initiatives for Control of the United States’ Actions in the Central African Republic (CICAUSAC), emerging in early 2024 and led by Socrate Taramboye. 

In 2024, CICAUSAC united other representatives of youth political movements and media like Elvis Réamndé, Trésor Adoum, Crépin Ngbomayé, Miguel Nguebata and Eloge Doctrouvé Koï mentioned in articles. Contacted by INPACT/AEOW, Taramboye explains that the “committee was established in 2024 following several observations of the harmful activities of Western and particularly American NGOs on Central African soil”. In fact, the organisation poses as a civil society platform to counter the interference of the U.S in CAR at the time the U.S private military company Bancroft is about to set foot in the country. In order to do so, the civil platform organises demonstrations, press conferences and conferences denouncing the U.S presence in the country in all its forms and also the perceived liberal values brought to the Central African population. 

One specific campaign launched by CICAUSAC targets non-ROC Christians missionaries. In March 2024 CICAUSAC released a report denouncing American pastors’ criminal conducts based on documented misbehaviours of some pastors in other countries like in the U.S. or in Kenya. While the abuses by these preachers as detailed are unfortunately grounded in reality, the report makes non-sequitur, undocumented claims about the missionaries activities in CAR and their relation to American government agencies.The organisation claimed about 20 US pastors are coming in CAR per month and are CIA agents. 

“In short, the American pastors who travel to the Central African Republic every month are CIA intelligence agents.”

It goes further without any evidence in claiming American Christian missionaries are supporting armed groups directly and with the help of Western NGOs to target the CAR army (FACAs), the MINUSCA – the UN Mission in CAR – and the Wagner Group. American non-ROC Christian missionaries are portrayed as agents of destabilisation and chaos in the country, supporting armed groups and individuals, such as notorious militia leader  alleged war criminal Maxime Mokom.

“Sources close to the leaders of the “Committee for Initiatives to Monitor US Actions in the Central African Republic” have asserted that in certain provincial towns, American pastors are communicating with armed groups, assisting them, and providing crucial intelligence on the movements of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA), MINUSCA, and their Russian allies. For example, American pastors have been present in Yaloké for decades. With the complicity of American NGOs, they instigated riots that led to the destruction of a mosque and the looting of property belonging to the local Muslim community. This suggests that these American pastors, acting on behalf of the CIA, are encouraging Christians to attack Muslims in order to create an interreligious crisis. The goal of this sectarian crisis is to plunge the country into chaos in order to secure control of its natural resources”.

In April 2024,  CICAUSAC accused American Christian pastors of destabilising the region of Yaloke and financially supporting armed group rebel Yusuf Ghazi. Without evidence, CICAUSAC claims American Christian pastors were involved in starting an inter-religious conflict in the region in order to chase Chinese companies and take over their mines.   

“This violence has been fueled by NGOs and American pastors with the aim of creating interfaith conflict to destabilize the region and drive Chinese partners out of the mining sites. This is because, as one source put it, “the Americans are manipulating the local population and the rebel leader Yusuf Ghazi to destabilize the Yaloke region and seize control of the mining sites.”

Christianity brought by American pastors is also equated to values and behaviours deemed unacceptable. The Vatican’s Fiducia Supplicans and decisions are also linked to the U.S. agenda and strategy to penetrate the CAR. Christian missionaries are being portrayed as disguised agents of the West, operating in CAR to push US interests. 

“Religion is one of the United States’ preferred methods for imposing its beliefs on other countries. To justify such actions, the United States disseminates its so-called democratic values ​​and principles of liberty through pastors. In recent months, the number of American pastors visiting the Central African Republic has increased. Approximately 20 come each month. It appears that over the course of the year, more than 230 American pastors will travel to the CAR to promote American ideology, such as same-sex marriage, which has become fashionable in the United States and Europe and has been sanctioned by the Church”.

According to a European diplomatic source consulted by INPACT/AEOW, this is a matter of concern and national security as any missionary or Church-linked organisations could be targeted with violence or accused of espionage in CAR on the basis of such false claims. A lot of these missionaries are in fact Europeans.

CICAUSAC’s accusations towards American Christian missionaries follow a well-oiled media laundering machinery appearing in SVR-controlled Politlogy’s media: Lengo Songo, Afrique Media, le Potential Centrafricain, Senenews and more largely for CICAUSAC’s overall campaigns in Njoni Songo. 

This is not by chance. Politology’s strategy in CAR is very clear for February 2024: “Strengthening the public negative’s attitude towards the work of American Structure in the region demonstrating the already existing consequences of the destructive activities of the United States in the Central African Republic” per internal Politology documents obtained by The Continent. 

CICAUSAC is mentioned a couple of slides after as a key structure to criticise the USA. CICAUSAC is also mentioned in four financial documents.

In March 2024, CICAUSAC activities are mentioned in the “Events” section of the budget, benefiting from an undefined portion of an overall budget of 71,000 USD covering 13 events. 

In April 2024, two CICAUSAC activities were mentioned in the “Events” section of Politology’s budget benefiting from an undefined portion of an overall budget of 50,320 USD allocated to 12 different events in total. 

In May 2024, CICAUSAC’s work appeared in the “Organisational Work on the Territory” line for CAR in Politology’s budget, benefiting from an undefined portion of an overall budget of 95,350 USD dedicated to 16 actions with different implementers.

Taramboye defends on the financials: “Our committee is not funded by anyone”. After seeing photographs of the Politology’s team based in CAR, he added that “I recognize some faces in this photo because I am Central African and live in Bangui (NB: Bangui’s population is around 1 million people, the size of Sofia in Bulgaria, Cologne in Germany or Jacksonville in Florida). Furthermore, the Russians are trusted partners of the Central African Republic. Thanks to them, we have peace today. But I have no connection whatsoever with these people. I work with complete independence and freedom”. Was Politology just amplifying the activist’s work in regional media? Taramboye affirms he did not know Politology followed closely their campaigns: “I am not aware that the campaigns of my committee are of interest to the Russians. If that’s the case, it’s to be expected. Because they are honest partners and our protectors. They must be informed of everything concerning the security of our country, for which they are responsible”. Despite what Taramboye may claim, the facts remain: The SVR funds Politology, and based on internal Politology documents, the organisation disbursed at least $210,000 over a three-month period, a portion of which was allocated to CICAUSAC, now replaced by the MPAL (Mouvement Panafricain pour une Afrique Libre / Pan-African Movement for a Free Africa), still led by Taramboye.

Russian Intelligence Services’s media ecosystem amplifies anything anti Non-ROC Christian.

Beyond portraying non-ROC Christians as proxies of the USA or the West, Politology and more largely other known Russian Intelligence Services’media fronts are amplifying any information which weakens the Catholic Church, the Holy See and non-ROC Christians in CAR and Africa writ large. 

Christian NGOs like World Vision are accused of financing CIA operations by providing logistics support and receiving information in exchange. Radio Lengo Songo -created and managed by Politology and now under the de facto control of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service – promotes a campaign from Galaxy Panafricaine in 2026 about alleged corruption within the Catholic Church in CAR. Galaxy Panafricaine accuses new priests of embezzlement and living sinful double lives. GRU-affiliated media Africa Initiative further exacerbates the rift caused by the Fiducia Supplicans in Africa. Some allegedly Russian controlled online accounts dedicated to the Politology-supported Alliance of the Sahelian States are also reposting aggressive messages referring to inter-religious peace proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV during his 2026 African Tour.

The film “The Tourist” (2021) in the Central African Republic, directed by Andrei Shcherbinin and produced by Evgeny Prigozhin’s companies, also contributes to Russia’s information war against the Vatican. The film features a religious component with the pernicious manipulation of a Catholic priest linked to the rebels. Russian pastors invited at the Russian House also used the film to promote Russian interests mixing religion and Wagner group’s propaganda.  

The African Orthodox Exarchate promoting an aggressive campaign against the Vatican

On February 12th 2016, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill met for the first time in nearly 1,000 years. “At 2:00 pm, Francis’s Alitalia flight landed at the old orange-and-blue José Marti International Airport. Although neither was involved in arranging the historic event, President Raul Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega escorted the pontiff to an airport hangar where, upon meeting Kirill, Francis’s first word was, “Finally”. Pope and patriarch spent the next two hours chatting in a non-descript presidential lounge with faux wood paneling, accompanied by translators and a few key advisers, including the Metropolitan Hilarion and Cardinal Koch” recalls Victor Gaetan in God’s Diplomats. For the Holy See, the Church needs to breathe with “two lungs”: the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches.  Restoring and preserving relations with the Russian Orthodox Church has always been paramount according to their doctrine. But at which cost?

Beyond the inter-religious dialogue, elements from the Russian Orthodox Church supported by Russian Intelligence Services seem to be playing a role more politically aligned with the Kremlin’s interests, especially in Africa. The figure of Leonid of Klin, Leonid Gorbachev, nicknamed “the Prigozhin in a cassock” because of his connections with the Wagner group, is the most revealing towards the Vatican. Suspended from his post as Exarch in Africa (2021-2023) for unclear reasons, he was replaced by a decision of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate on October 11, 2023 (minutes no. 93).  This first Russian Exarch in Africa remained extremely hostile towards the Vatican, as evidenced by all his personal communications on Telegram.

The late Benedict XVI, for example, is referred to by his so-called “Nazi origins” which apparently still haunt the existence of some Russian Orthodox on the basis of yet another falsehood contrived by the KGB decades earlier. It helps also to bolster the narrative established against the West in light of the conflict in Ukraine.

Some quotes found on his Telegram channel underscore his pugnacity: “The Vatican and its ally, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, are not our friends. And everything concerning them is linked to a centuries-old struggle. For our past and our future. […] Therefore, when we speak of a special military operation, we must frankly acknowledge that another battle is also being waged. A spiritual battle. For souls and minds. For Orthodoxy and the Fatherland. And this is not a special operation. It is a war!”

The Vatican is not merely reduced to Nazi remnants, which still haunt the existence of some Russian clerics. It is also associated with relaying what is viewed as “Satanist and perverse LGBT+ propaganda” by Leonid Gorbachev.

In a Telegram post dated January 24, 2024, he shared a damning article about Cardinal Fernandez and his alleged ties to homosexual lobbies: “Pope Francis made this personnel change for a very specific reason. In doing so, he apparently wishes to give the ecumenical dialogue with Orthodoxy a more inclusive orientation regarding gender issues. In six months at the Curia, Cardinal Fernández has forged a solid reputation as the main architect of the LGBT cause. Apart from the controversial statement, his actions in this position have hardly been noteworthy. He can rightly be considered the face of LGBT Catholicism. It is in this context that Fernandez will participate in the development of the concrete aspects of contacts between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. But the symbols and media images that accompany these events are just as important in our time.” Can we imagine Fernandez kissing someone from our Department for External Church Relations?”

It is useful to place this post in context. It originated on the Telegram channel “Christma Center,” which, just six months earlier, had branded Pope Francis the “Rainbow Pope”—a pointed reference to what it portrayed as his “Satanist LGBT pastoral” policy. The channel’s output consistently seeks to construct a stark, Manichean narrative.

The Moscow Patriarchate’s owned SPAS TV channel also criticizes the Vatican and produces numerous biased programs. The channel’s prominent media figure is Maria Butina, a known Russian agent spying on the U.S, a member of parliament from the United Russia party and an important figure shaped by Wagner circles. She plays a vital role in raising the profile of the Russian Exarchate in Africa. Her program, Globe of Orthodoxy, on SPAS TV, a channel associated with the Moscow Patriarchate, is crucial. Several countries have already been featured, including Kenya, Morocco, and South Africa.

Butina was arrested in July 2018 in Washington DC. According to court filings detail and news articles, Butina acted as an agent of Russia to develop relations and networks with US individuals and organisations to advance the interests of Russia. She especially developed circles in political parties, the National Rifle Association, the National Prayer Breakfast and some religious organisations. Her connections with Wagner date back to her release from the U.S. Since returning to Russia, she has been cultivating connections with this network. 

Other program hosts, such as Maxim Golovanov and Anna Shafran, introduce a conspiratorial narrative about Rome, echoing the theories of Russian syncretic-fascist  philosopher Alexander Dugin. In March 2024, the SPAS TV channel addressed the so-called Satanic-Ukrainian axis with host Maxim Golovanov through provocative questions: “How does the Vatican deny God? Does the Pope control Ukrainian Satanists? Persecution of Christians: How does Ukraine torture people? How is Ukraine waging war against God?”.

Discussions among well-followed Russian political bloggers also push the narrative seen in CAR that the Western intelligence services are behind the Vatican and the Catholic Church: “To become the Third Rome, […] it is enough not to bow to the agenda of the Western world. […] The next question is: how do they intend to destroy Orthodoxy under these conditions? First, by keeping some of our hierarchs and administrators at the foot of the papal throne. It is through this means that Western intelligence services will manipulate those who fall into their trap. […] Furthermore, they will put pressure on all other Orthodox countries to renounce the Russian Church and condemn it. […] And if we do nothing, this will introduce into our Church a “Trojan horse” manufactured in the Vatican.”

In September 2025, Leonid Gorbachev, Metropolitan of Klin, shared the documentary from the Minayev Live channel about the Nazis’ escape after World War II and the support of the Vatican Church. “Fascism + Vatican = Fascist Vatican. How the Vatican helped the Nazis after the war. […] I would add that the Vatican has always protected people with anti-Russian views. Proselytism and Uniatism are among the Vatican’s many levers of influence in Slavic countries. For the Russian Orthodox Church, not seeing this is spiritual blindness. Going there to attend meetings and participate in events is an act of treason.”

In June 2025, on the same theme, Alexander Malkevich, an ex member of Africa Politology during the era of the late Prigozhin and under international sanctions, produced a similar documentary: “According to the archives, approximately 10,000 war criminals escaped justice by hiding in Canada, the United States, Switzerland, and Latin American countries. Nearly half of them settled in Argentina, and the main escape route was Italy, where SS officers were hidden by Vatican priests.”

Catholic clergy, missionaries, and laity have been a sustained target of the Kremlin and specifically for its religious influence strategy in Africa. Since 2021, the Russian Orthodox Africa Exarchate has established hundreds of centers across the continent, often drawing recruits from Catholic networks it simultaneously works to unsettle.  While there is nothing wrong with the practicing or spreading of one’s faith, the ROC’s already controversial efforts in Africa have an ulterior motive to proselytizing the faith: to generate sufficient confusion and fragmentation to attract isolated or disoriented Catholic clergy. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church is deepening fractures in ecumenical dialogue, seeking greater influence within Eastern Christian communities in countries such as Ethiopia, Egypt, and Eritrea while presenting itself as their defender against a purported “Satanist West.”

This narrative rests on a” “us vs. them” framing: a morally decaying West, accused of abandoning so-called traditional values, set against a Russia that claims to embody spiritual and cultural resistance. The politico-religious objective is explicit—to discredit Western influence in all its forms. Within this framework, Western Christian institutions—Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Anglican, and others—are treated as primary targets.

The latest tensions between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV have been eagerly seized upon and amplified across Russian religious, blogosphere, and military-affiliated channels. One widely circulated line captures the tone: Trump is said to have little grasp of the domestic political complications a Vatican-based compatriot might pose—yet, for all his rhetoric, there is little he can actually do to the Pope, short of once again lashing out online and branding him a “filthy American.”

Regardless of the political drama of the day or who is in the White House or Vatican, the fact is that a foreign intelligence service is systematically trying to paint the Catholic Church and other Christians in Africa as subversive agents of foreign powers. 

The latest publication by Russia’s security service linked channel, Rybar, is a prime example of the Kremlin’s dangerous objective. Such a campaign  is not only morally abhorrent, but also incredibly dangerous to people of all faiths. It is this sort of false and divisive rhetoric that has led to countless murders of clergy and laity alike around the world.