US imposes sanctions on African gold operations linked to Wagner

Washington — The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on gold companies in Central African Republic (CAR), accusing them of engaging in illicit dealings to fund Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force.

The US treasury department also imposed sanctions on Wagner-linked companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia.

The department in a statement said it slapped sanctions on four companies connected to the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and said the illicit gold dealings fund the militia to sustain and expand its armed forces, including in Ukraine and Africa.

“The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali. The US will continue to target the Wagner Group’s revenue streams to degrade its expansion and violence in Africa, Ukraine, and anywhere else,” the department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

The US state department said that any action against Wagner was unrelated to an aborted mutiny last weekend.

Wagner has fought in Libya, Syria, the CAR, Mali and other countries, and has fought the bloodiest battles of the 16-month war in Ukraine. It was founded in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and started supporting pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

CAR-based Midas Resources and Diamville, UAE-based Industrial Resources General Trading and Russia-based Limited Liability Company were hit with sanctions in Tuesday’s action.

Washington also imposed sanctions on Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, a Russian national the treasury department accused of being an executive in the Wagner Group and said worked closely with senior Malian officials on weapons deals, mining concerns and other Wagner activities in the country.

Reuters