US Imposes Sanctions Against Entities Funding Activities Of Wagner Group In Africa

By Samuel Ouma [caption id="attachment_107329" align="alignnone" width="1024"] BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - DECEMBER 25: Russian and Rwandan security forces take measures around the site during election meeting of Current Central African Republic President and presidential candidate Faustin-Archange Touadera, at UCATEX Stadium, ahead of the presidential elections in Bangui, Central African Republic on December 25, 2020. Nacer Talel / Anadolu Agency (Photo by Nacer Talel / ANADOLU AGENCY / Anadolu Agency via AFP)[/caption] The US government on June 27 announced sanctions against four companies and one individual associated with the Wagner Group private military company and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in Africa. In a statement, the US Department of Treasury said that companies and individuals have received sanctions due to their participation in actions that threaten democratic institutions and processes in the Central African Republic by engaging in illegal trade in the nation's natural resources. “Treasury’s sanctions disrupt key actors in the Wagner Group’s financial network and international structure,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “The Wagner Group funds its brutal operations in part by exploiting natural resources in countries like the Central African Republic and Mali. 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.” The sanctions targeted two Central African Republic mining and precious minerals and metals companies, Midas Resources and Diamville, and a Dubai-based industrial goods distributor and a Russian-based liability company, for their involvement in a gold and minerals selling scheme that benefited the Wagner Group financially. The Wagner Group's CEO, Russian citizen Andrey Ivanov, who in 2023 collaborated closely with Prigozhin's Company Africa Politology and senior members of the Mali government in dealing with armament sales and mining companies, was also subject to the sanctions. As a result of the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated persons in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Furthermore, any entities held, directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, 50 per cent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.