One of the sources of funding for the Wagner group of mercenaries is the illegal gold trade in Africa. The US Treasury Department yesterday (June 27) imposed sanctions on four companies and one individual linked to the Wagner Group and its founder and owner Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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Both the Russian mercenary company and its boss, who was leading a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin, were previously sanctioned by the US, EU, Canada, UK, Australia and Japan. In January this year, the US labeled the group a “transnational criminal organization”.
On the same day as the latest sanctions, a group of state agencies responsible for national security also issued an alert drawing attention to the risks associated with gold trading in sub-Saharan Africa, including conflict and terrorism financing, Money laundering activities, sanctions evasion, human and labor rights violations and environmental degradation.
The companies in the African gold trade were sanctioned by the USA
🇨🇫 Midas Resources: The Central African Republic (CAR)-based mining company is affiliated with Prigozhin. Midas has denied CAR government officials the opportunity to inspect the Ndassima mine — the site containing more than $1 billion worth of gold for which Midas receives preferential funding.
🇨🇫 Diamville: The Central African Republic-based gold and diamond purchasing company controlled by Prigozhin participated in a gold sales scheme that involved converting Central African Republic gold into US dollars and hand-delivering cash. Diamville shipped locally mined diamonds to buyers in the United Arab Emirates and Europe.
🇦🇪 General Trade in Industrial Resources: The Dubai-based industrial goods trader, a buyer of diamonds mined by Diamville in the Central African Republic, “knowingly participated in the transfer of cash to Russia” after the US imposed sanctions on various Russian financial institutions.
🇷🇺 Limited Liability Company DM: The Russia-based company also participated in Diamville’s gold sales program.
Interesting person: Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov
The US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on Russian citizen Andrei Nikolayevich Ivanov for acting as an agent for a Wagner group in Mali.
“In the spring of 2023, Ivanov worked closely with Prigozhin’s Africa Politology organization and senior Malian government officials on arms deals, mining issues and other Wagner Group activities in Mali,” the federal agency said.
Africa Politology, sanctioned by the US State Department in January 2023, works to oust countries committed to human rights and good governance to withdraw their presence in Africa, including discrediting the United Nations and suing news agencies who report on Wagner’s activities.
A big number: Wagner’s raw materials business
$250 million: How much Prigozhin-affiliated companies amassed from natural resources acquired in exchange for security services for countries in Africa and the Middle East in the four years before Russia invaded Ukraine, according to the Financial Times?
A brief overview of Wagner in Africa
Tens of thousands of Wagner fighters have held the fort in Ukraine since the invasion began in February 2022. But even before the conflict, the group was active in poor, war-torn parts of sub-Saharan Africa, including the Central African Republic. Sudan, Libya, Mozambique and Mali.
In 2017, Wagner deployed hundreds of his men to quell local uprisings against the government of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir. In return, Prigozhin-controlled M-Invest received exclusive rights to mine gold in Sudan.
Wagner entered Mali in 2021 when France withdrew its forces. She agreed to help the new military junta fight Islamist militants. In April 2022, Frances accused Wagner Group recruits of staging burials of bodies in the country to fabricate evidence of French atrocities, while committing human rights abuses himself.
M-Invest was sanctioned by the US in July, as was another Prigozhin-affiliated company in the region called Meroe Gold. In May, the US imposed sanctions on Ivan Maslov, the leader of the Wagner paramilitary groups in Mali.
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