Russia’s most infamous mercenary company, the now-defunct Wagner Group, is notorious for many things: ruthless fighting prowess, brutal war crimes, the failed mutiny by its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin -– and the plane crash that killed him two months later.
Prigozhin’s commercial dealings from Kremlin catering contracts and real estate development to oil deals in Syria and lucrative gold- and diamond -mining in Africa, particularly in the violence-wracked Central African Republic, also drew attention.
Add this to the list of side businesses that Prigozhin’s investments have spawned:
Bottled water.
Prigozhin was killed in an August 2023 plane crash that US officials believe was a Kremlin-authorized assassination. In the larger scheme of the multibillion-dollar, multinational conglomerate that he built, Crystal Water –- which RFE/RL determined has been on sale in the C.A.R. capital, Bangui, since at least late 2023 -– is small money.
But it’s emblematic of how his businesses have fractured, as allies and former partners -– not to mention Russian military and intelligence officials -– have sought to capitalize on his investments.
“Although the Wagner Group in its original form no longer exists, many of its commercial ventures, like their mining operations, remain in operation in C.A.R.,” said C4ADS, a Washington-based research group that has tracked many of Prigozhin’s ventures.
“These companies represent a continuation of the Wagner Group's historic commercial endeavors, but without the centralized, militarized leadership that once defined the group,” C4ADS told RFE/RL. “The companies have proved adept at reacting to sanctions, often seeking to operate under a new name to obscure their identity.”
Lou Osborn, a French researcher who heads an organization called All Eyes On Wagner, said business ventures like bottled water serve a commercial purpose, but also a political purpose: to undermine the image of the C.A.R.’s former colonial ruler, France, and make room for Russian influence.
“They build these businesses as a way to reinforce the political messages, through info operations they’ve been spreading in the country,” she told RFE/RL.
Gold, Diamonds, Hardwood Timber
Prigozhin’s mercenaries began deploying in force to the C.A.R. in 2018, under a contract to serve as a specialized security service for President Faustin-Archange Touadera and his government. In compensation, Prigozhin negotiated payment that included control over several mines, including, in 2020, the Ndassima gold mine, one of the country’s most valuable.
Public records show Wagner-affiliated entities now control 10 mines in the country. According to U.S. and other Western governments, mineral extraction and hardwood timber harvesting in the C.A.R., has netted Prigozhin’s companies as much as $500 million annually, playing a central role in financing his business while he was alive.
One of the main mining companies is Lobaye Invest, which is managed by Prigozhin associates Dmitry Syty, and Yevgeny Khodotov, according to the European Union, which imposed sanctions on the company.
Lobaye Invest also finances several francophone media outlets, including the radio station Lengo Sengo, which broadcasts propaganda and advertising campaigns on behalf of Russian operations.
Diamville SAU is an affiliated company that buys, sells, and trades gold and diamonds in the C.A.R., and was controlled by Prigozhin until his death. According to corporate records, the registered owner is a local man who has worked as a driver for Syty.
Ndassima, located some 420 kilometers northeast of Bangui, has been controlled by another Wagner-linked company, Midas Ressources, since 2020. Private and public estimates say the mine might contain as much as $2.8 billion worth of gold.
“Midas, along with other Prigozhin-linked firms operating in the C.A.R., is key to financing Wagner’s operations in the C.A.R. and beyond,” according to a 2023 US Treasury Department announcement.
Yet another company with reported ties to Wagner has exported hundreds of thousands of dollars in lucrative hardwood harvested from forests in the western Lobaye region, according to Earthsight, a British environmental NGO.
After Prigozhin’s death, the Wagner Group’s military and mercenary components were absorbed by the Russian Defense Ministry and other entities. His main holding company, Concord Holdings, also began to splinter, with Russian prosecutors announcing investigations. Outside of Russia, however, ownership of Prigozhin-related companies became even murkier.
Vodka, Beer, Soda -- And Water
Social media posts suggest that Crystal Water started appearing in Bangui marketplaces sometime in late 2023 when the brand began distributing T-shirts, hiring people to march in public parades, and promoting the water as a superior ingredient for brewing coffee.
Crystal Water is one of several brands of bottled water sold in the C.A.R., where the overwhelming majority of the population have no access to clean drinking water. It’s also one of the more expensive brands on the market.
Labels on the bottles, which RFE/RL purchased at a Bangui market, refer to a company called First Industrial Company, which is better known as the brewer of a local beer called Africa Ti L'Or.
A June 2023 intelligence report submitted to France’s parliament stated outright that the brewery was owned by the Wagner Group.
“Wagner opened its own brewery in Bangui at the end of 2021 to compete with the French, with the launch of a new drink, Africa Ti L'Or, on the Central African market,” the report said.
Social media photographs on Africa Ti L’Or’s accounts show pallets of Crystal Water in factory storage at the brewer’s plant.
The exact origins of First Industrial’s drinks business are unclear. The company broke ground on a bottling plant -- located about 24 kilometers north of Bangui, on the banks of the Mpoko River -- in early 2022, possibly some months earlier. Satellite imagery shows the plant’s footprint has expanded noticeably since then.
In April 2022, the company imported water purification equipment from a Russian company called GK Gost, according to trade records obtained by RFE/RL.
Aside from beer, soft drinks, and bottled water, Africa Ti L'Or also manufactures a local vodka called Wa Na Wa, which is sold in plastic packets.
By August 2023, the month Prigozhin was killed, a website called Nouvelles Plus published what appeared to be a press release about Africa Ti L'Or and “the good quality of this new range of alcoholic beverages.”
“This new beer ‘Africa Ti L'Or’ has won the hearts of consumers with its taste and quality which stands out from other beers that have existed in the C.A.R.,” it said.
Africa Ti L'Or has aggressively promoted its beer –- on billboards around the country and on Facebook and other social media, some of which appeared to be linked to Wagner operations.
Africa Ti L'Or has also circulated social media advertisements for Crystal Water, and some of its other products: an orange soda drink called Africa Fanta and a Coca-Cola-like beverage called Ti L’or Cola.
Many of the promotional events organized by Africa Ti L’Or are held at the Russian House, a cultural center under the auspices of the Russian Embassy.
The principal behind First Industrial is widely believed to be Dmitry Syty, a Russian who was one of Prigozhin’s first associates when he first began cultivating business in the C.A.R.
Syty, who started out as an interpreter for a Prigozhin-founded mining company called M Invest, has headed the Russian House for years.
Syty has aggressively expanded Russia’s public outreach in the country, organizing language classes, and sponsoring beauty pageants, for example. He has also renovated a building to serve as a Russian Orthodox Church, with priests flown in from Russia to hold services and blessings for Russian mercenaries serving in the country.
“Syty is extremely well integrated into the C.A.R. elite,” Osborn told RFE/RL. “Everyone knows him in Bangui. He’s a key stakeholder if you work in Bangui.”
In December 2022, Syty was wounded -– parts of his right hand blown off –- when a bomb that was mailed to him at the cultural center detonated. He was flown to Moscow for treatment, where, in interviews with Russian newspapers, he said the attack and threats that preceded it were aimed at pushing Wagner out of the country.
In September 2023, just a few weeks after Prigozhin’s death, a high-level Russian delegation, which included a deputy defense minister and the deputy head of military intelligence, paid a highly public visit to Bangui. During the visit, Touadera appealed to the visitors to continue working in the C.A.R.
He also asked that Syty remain the point person for Wagner’s business operations.
Syty has also accompanied Touadera on trips to Moscow, most recently in January 2025, when Touadera received a red-carpet airport welcome and an honor guard parade just outside the Kremlin walls.
RFE/RL reached out to Syty, in phone calls and on WhatsApp through a phone number provided by a person who has communicated with him. He did not respond as of publication.
'Reinforce Political Messages, And Increase Their Political Influence'
The promotional and marketing efforts by First Industrial have a commercial purpose: taking market share away from companies like Castel Group, a major French wine and beer company. Castel owns a brewery called Mocaf, which has long been the dominant beer in the country.
Castel did not respond to messages seeking comment.
There’s also a political bent, Osborn said: to undermine France’s image in the country and to burnish Russia’s image.
In 2021, a high-energy, kinetic, Russian war-action film called The Tourist was released. Set in the Central African Republic, the film features a group of heroic Russian military trainers sent to bolster the professionalism of beleaguered security forces until they're caught up in an attempted coup on the eve of a presidential election.
The film, which played widely in the C.A.R., was reportedly financed by Prigozhin’s companies.
“They are trying to displace [French competitors] from a pure business angle, yes, but when they try to displace them, they also try to reinforce political messages, and increase their political influence,” Osborn said.
Syty’s actions have drawn scrutiny not only from journalists and researchers, but also Western governments.
The U.S. Treasury Department targeted First Industrial in September 2023, the same month that the Russian delegation appeared in Bangui. Previous sanctions had targeted other Prigozhin entities, including mining and timber companies. Six months later, however, First Industrial was removed from the Treasury sanctions list, without explanation.
For his part, Syty was personally sanctioned in July 2023 by Britain, whose government declared he was “associated” with the Wagner Group, which has been involved in “the commission of violations of international humanitarian law in the Central African Republic, in particular the deliberate targeting of civilians.”
Africa Ti L’or beer also drew the attention of French lawmakers. In February 2024, Olivier Cadic, a senator in the French parliament, publicly accused the company of using bad quality water.
A spokesman told RFE/RL that Cadic had received no further communication from the C.A.R. government regarding his allegations but had no further comment.
