2023-05-25 21:26:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on the head of the Wagner Group’s Mali office in what it said were indications the Kremlin was trying to use the African nation as a way station for arms shipments to Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Treasury Department sanctions are directed at local Wagner Group official Ivan Maslov and refer to unspecified signals that his staff were trying to buy mines, drones and other weapons systems from foreign suppliers to deliver to Russian fighters. in Ukraine.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller addressed those US suspicions earlier in the week. “We have not seen, thus far, any indication that these acquisitions have been finalized or executed, but we are closely monitoring the situation,” Miller said.
Led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Wagner Group is a private military contractor whose paramilitary forces are fighting for Russia in Ukraine, and are also expanding Russian influence in developing nations of the southern hemisphere.
In Africa, the Wagner Group has brokered deals in Mali, the Central African Republic, Libya and elsewhere, providing security for often autocratic national leaders, often in exchange for a share of local gold and other resource extraction.
Regional experts and others accuse the Kremlin of using its operations in Mali and elsewhere in Africa as a source of funding and a logistics center for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia denies any wrongdoing.
The United States has sanctioned the Wagner Group and its leadership for Russia’s attack on Ukraine and for human rights abuses since at least 2017.
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