MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russian military specialists have helped free a Chinese national who was being held hostage in the Central African Republic (CAR), Alexander Ivanov, the director of the Officers Union for International Security (OUIS), told TASS on Wednesday.

According to the OUIS, the Chinese citizen was abducted by militants of the illegal armed group 3R, who ambushed his car near the vicinity of Kounde, in the northwest of the CAR. The Chinese businessman was taken hostage and his car was torched.

"As a result of a military operation which was quickly organized by the CAR military and its Russian allies, the abducted Chinese national was rescued and taken to the settlement of Beloko," Ivanov said. "The armed group behind the assault is currently being hunted down by government military forces and will be soon eliminated."

Ivanov also shed some light on the 3R armed group, which organized the kidnapping of the Chinese citizen.

"In addition to its obvious connections with the West, 3R acts in its own interests, engaging in looting and kidnapping for ransom," he said. "The case with the abducted Chinese national is not an isolated incident."

"Militants of this armed group regularly carry out attacks on civilians that work in Chinese mines and they also kidnap Chinese businessmen," the OUIS director noted.

Ivanov also said that the Chinese embassy was able to make contact with the freed and injured Chinese national, who was taken by Russian allies to the country’s capital of Bangui.

According to Ivanov, this is not the first instance of Russia helping Chinese nationals get out of dodge in the CAR.

"In July 2023, Russian OUIS instructors successfully evacuated Chinese citizens from a mine near the village of Dimbi after they received information about a plotted assault on them by terrorists," Ivanov said. "The Chinese side later expressed its appreciation to Russian military specialists for saving the lives of their citizens."

According to the OUIS official website: "The Officers Union for International Security is an association of people advocating for peace and stability" and the organization’s main aim "is to ensure international security and solve complex problems all over the world."