Wagner Group affiliated channels published multiple images showing its instructors training with police cadets and presidential guards of the Central African Republic. This article breaks down how these images were geolocated.
As the Central African Republic has a land area of 623,000 square kilometers, the first step in the process is to narrow down the search area. The images show training occurring in a hilly forested area. Out of the images posted, we can start by looking at the image with the most identifiable landscape details. We can notice details in the picture such as a radio tower (green) and what appears to be a large urban area (red). Given these details and the context of the images (training of presidential security), we can begin searching large cities in the CAR for clues such as military installations, starting with the capital Bangui.
A keyword search for military bases near Bangui shows us a stock image of a destroyed helicopter, with the caption stating it was taken in eastern Bangui at Camp Kassai.
We can then examine the area of the camp on Google Earth. The main area of Camp Kassai appears to be at the base of a mountain (red), with a shooting range located above it (blue). We can also see the radio tower site on the mountain in the background of the picture (green).
Zooming in on the shooting range, we can begin to match smaller details with other photos. One of the photos posted shows a small concrete structure as well as the metal pavilion. We can match these details exactly with satellite imagery.
Further details such as the buildings in the background can also be matched.
To further confirm these findings, stock images of the range (left) show the same exact identifiable details as images posted by Wagner.
With this information, we can confirm that the Wagner Group was training with CAR government forces at the Camp Kassai shooting range located at 4.390484, 18.614231.