Topline
Just days after a short-lived rebellion by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary group, the United States Treasury announced sanctions targeting four companies that have “engaged in illicit gold dealings to fund the Wagner Group to sustain and expand its armed forces,” along with one person the department says has “acted or purported to act for” Prigozhin.
Servicemen of the Wagner Group military company guard an area at the headquarters of the Southern … [+]
Key Facts
The sanctions should “disrupt key actors in the Wagner Group’s financial network and international structure,” according to Brian Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The targeted companies are in the Central African Republic, United Arab Emirates and Russia, and the targeted person—Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov—is an executive of the Wagner Group who has been central to the group’s activities in Mali, the department said.
The sanctions—which join a number of other sanctions against entities and people that support Wagner’s activity—prohibit any transactions by the U.S. or people within the country that involve any “property or interests in property of” the blocked groups or person.
News Peg
On Friday, Prigozhin led the Wagner Group in an armed rebellion—which he has since denied was a coup—after accusing the Russian military of attacking one of his camps. The Wagner Group had previously fought alongside Russian troops in Ukraine, but claimed control over military facilities in the Russian cities of Voronezh and Rostov in the rebellion. The Wagner mercenaries also claimed they had shot down some Russian military aircraft during their attack. Prigozhin and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to stop the rebellion—deciding Prigozhin would move to Belarus—before fighters made it to the capital in Moscow and on Sunday Wagner troops began pulling out of the cities over which they took control.
Key Background
The Wagner Group was founded in 2014 by Prigozhin and has an army of more than 25,000. The group reportedly assisted Moscow during the Crimea annexation in 2014, and sought out contracts with African governments for commercial and geopolitical reasons. The group has also been accused of numerous human rights violations like murder, torture and rape in the African and Middle Eastern countries where it has a hold on natural resources. Described as “a proxy military force of the Kremlin” by the U.S. government, the Treasury sanctioned the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization earlier this year.
Further Reading
US imposes new sanctions related to gold dealing to fund Wagner Group (CNN)
Treasury Sanctions Illicit Gold Companies Funding Wagner Forces and Wagner Group Facilitator (U.S. Department of the Treasury)
What Is The Wagner Group? This Kremlin-Linked Mercenary Firm Is Reportedly Sending More Operatives Into Ukraine (Forbes)
Wagner Chief Prigozhin Denies Attempting A Coup In First Comments Since Stunning Rebellion (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/06/27/us-treasury-sanctions-groups-with-ties-to-gold-dealing-to-fund-wagner-group/