U.S. targets Wagner Group associates in Africa with sanctions

U.S. officials unveiled new sanctions Tuesday against companies and an individual tied to the Wagner Group, focusing their attention on the Russian mercenary group’s African connections in the wake of its botched mutiny over the weekend.

“The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali,” Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury, said in a news release. “The United States will continue to target the Wagner Group’s revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine, and anywhere else.”

Treasury officials have focused their attention on two mining and precious minerals and metals companies in the Central African Republic — Midas Ressources and Diamville — as well as a Dubai-based industrial goods distributor and a Russian-based liability company, for their participation in a gold and minerals selling scheme that financially benefited the Wagner Group. A Russian national with business ties in Mali was also named as a target of U.S. sanctions for his work tied to the Wagner Group’s commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The Wagner Group, which led an aborted mutiny and rebellion against the Russian government on Friday and Saturday, has been present since 2017 in Central Africa, becoming one of Russia’s most valuable foreign policy tools on the continent in the process. Present in Libya, Sudan, Mali and, most notably, the Central African Republic, Wagner troops, which number in the thousands and are referred to as “private military contractors” and “instructors” by Russian authorities, have been used to prop up weak authoritarian governments. In exchange for their services, governments provide Wagner access to precious minerals and valuable resources it can use to fund its operations. A report by The Sentry and CNN found that Wagner forces have participated in numerous massacres and atrocities in the Central African Republic.

Despite the mutiny in Russia over the weekend, Russian officials have doubled down on the deployment of Wagner forces in the Sahel, underscoring their strategic importance for the Kremlin. Speaking to Russia Today on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Wagner group would remain in Mali and the Central African Republic.

“This work will continue,” Lavrov said.