UK sanctions Wagner leaders & front companies responsible for violence and instability across Africa

Press release

UK sanctions Wagner Group leaders and front companies responsible for violence and instability across Africa

English

العربيَّة

Thirteen new UK sanctions announced targeting individuals and businesses linked to the actions of Wagner Group in Africa.

From:

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP

Published

20 July 2023

• new UK sanctions target 13 individuals and businesses linked to the actions of the Russian Wagner Group, including executions and torture in Mali and the Central African Republic and threats to peace and security in Sudan
• this includes 3 designations for the mercenary group’s top officials in Mali and Central African Republic (CAR), including the ‘right hand man’ of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who have deliberately targeted civilians in their operations
• a further 5 businesses and individuals involved in threatening peace and stability in Sudan, including through disinformation campaigns and providing military equipment, have been targeted

The UK government has today (Thursday 20 July) announced a wave of sanctions against individuals and businesses involved with the Wagner Group in Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan. These measures will limit their financial freedom by preventing UK citizens, companies and banks from dealing with them, alongside freezing any assets held in the UK and travel bans.

The Russian mercenary Wagner Group has operated in Mali, CAR and Sudan for several years, aggressively pursuing Russian foreign policy interests in the region and providing military support to counter-terrorism operations which have seen hundreds of civilians killed. The UK has already sanctioned the Wagner Group, its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, and several of his key commanders who have participated in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the Wagner Group in Mali, Ivan Aleksandrovitch Maslov, is one of those targeted today. Wagner mercenaries, alongside Malian forces, massacred at least 500 people in Moura in March 2022, including summary executions as well as rape and torture.

The head of the Wagner Group in CAR, Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, and the Wagner Group’s head of operations in the country, Konstantin Aleksandrovitch Pikalov, are sanctioned for deliberately targeting civilians.

Pikalov, known as the Wagner Group founder and CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin’s ‘right hand man’, is the operational head of Wagner in CAR. Pikalov is responsible for the Wagner Group’s torture and targeted killings of civilians.

Wagner Group has also provided weapons and military equipment to Sudan. Three businesses, which act as fronts for the Wagner Group and operate in the country, have been included in the new measures, due to the continued risk they pose to peace and stability. These include M-Invest, and its subsidiary Meroe Gold. These build on recent sanctions against companies funding the conflict.

Andrew Mitchell, Minister for Development and Africa, said:

The Wagner Group is committing atrocities in Ukraine, as well as acting with impunity in countries like Mali, Central African Republic and Sudan. Wherever Wagner operates, it has a catastrophic effect on communities, worsens existing conflicts and damages the reputations of countries that host them.

These sanctions expose despicable individuals who have commissioned violations of international humanitarian law, holding them to account for the severe harm they are inflicting on innocent civilians for financial gain.

The UK announced a package of sanctions linked to Sudan last week, targeting 6 companies providing funding and military equipment to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Through diplomatic engagement and aid programmes, the UK continues to support local, national and international efforts to promote long-term prosperity and stability in Mali, CAR and Sudan.

The UK remains deeply concerned by the destabilising role Wagner plays in this region. Wagner mercenaries operating in Africa have long been reported as being responsible for multiple breaches of international humanitarian law and abuses of human rights, including numerous reports of indiscriminate killings of unarmed civilians. The group’s presence in Africa is self-serving as demonstrated by their grip on the security and economic environments as well as their continued exploitation of natural resources.

The individuals and businesses sanctioned today are:

Mali

• Ivan Aleksandrovitch Maslov, the head of the Wagner Group’s operations in Mali, who oversaw the group’s involvement in the Moura Massacre and has been involved in the commission of violations of international humanitarian law, in particular, the deliberate targeting of civilians

Central African Republic

• Alexander Alexandrovich Ivanov, the Wagner Group’s unofficial spokesperson in CAR, for his association with the Group which has committed violations of international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting civilians
• Aleksandr Grigorievitch Maloletko, a military instructor for the Wagner Group and a close associate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, for his association with the Group which has committed violations of international humanitarian law
• Dimitri Sytii, an individual associated with the Wagner Group in CAR which has violated international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting civilians
• Konstantin Aleksandrovitch Pikalov, a close advisor of Yevgeny Prigozhin, for his involvement in the commission of violations of international humanitarian law in CAR, in particular the deliberate targeting of civilians
• mining company Lobaye Invest Sarlu for involvement in activities which threaten the peace, stability and security of the CAR, including through acts that undermine efforts to resolve armed conflicts, such as funding the training of CAR army recruits by Russian mercenaries
• Sewa Security Services, a CAR-based security company (and subsidiary of Lobaye Invest Sarlu) for its involvement in activities which undermine or threaten the peace, stability and security of the CAR, including by providing support for and/or promoting the actions of the Wagner Group in CAR
• Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, the head of Wagner Group operations in CAR, for violating international humanitarian law by deliberately targeting civilians

Sudan

• Andrei Sergeevich Mandel, Director General of M-Invest which in itself is responsible for action which threatens the peace, stability and security of Sudan
• M-Invest, a company serving as a front for the Wagner Group, for threatening the peace and security of Sudan. M-invest has previously advised the Sudanese government on disinformation campaigns to discredit pro-civilian government protestors
• Meroe Gold, a mining subsidiary of M-Invest, for threatening the peace, stability and security of Sudan. Meroe Gold has imported equipment to Sudan including weapons, helicopters and military trucks
• Mikhail Potepkin, Regional Director of M-Invest and Director of Meroe Gold, for threatening the peace and stability in Sudan. Potepkin is associated with the Wagner Group. He worked to ensure planes hired by Meroe Gold could continue operate domestically and internationally whilst being undetected by commercial aviation radars
• Al-Solag Mining, for threatening the peace, stability and security of Sudan by its association with Meroe Gold (and for its attempts to avoid existing Western sanctions and Sudanese regulations)

View the full UK Sanctions List.

Media enquiries

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Contact the FCDO Communication Team via email (monitored 24 hours a day) in the first instance, and we will respond as soon as possible.

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Published 20 July 2023

View original: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-wagner-group-leaders-and-front-companies-responsible-for-violence-and-instability-across-africa

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Prigohzin's Wagner group to 'refocus' on Africa

Report at The Telegraph, UK
By Joe Barnes
Dated 23 March 2023 6:50pm - full copy:

Yevgeny Prigohzin's Wagner group to 'refocus' on Africa after failures in Ukraine

The mercenary group has repeatedly blamed Moscow for failing to keep them supplied with ammunition and manpower

PHOTO Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, has advertised for new recruits for Africa CREDIT: Prigozhin Press Service

The Wagner Group is preparing to refocus its efforts in Africa and away from Ukraine amid a long-running dispute with Moscow, it has been reported.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary group, has repeatedly accused Russia’s defence ministry of stymying his supply of ammunition and manpower. 

Western analysts believe Sergei Shoigu, Russia's defence minister, is trying to stifle Prigozhin's growing political influence.

Wagner mercenaries have spearheaded Moscow's eight-month attempt to capture the besieged city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Prigozhin's private military has lost tens of thousands of men, mostly former convicts recruited out of Russian prisons, during the assault – the longest and costliest battle of the war.

Marred by the failure to capture Bakhmut, Prigozhin is planning to shift focus back to Africa, the Bloomberg news agency reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The suggestion will likely prompt concerns in Moscow after a top Ukrainian general said Kyiv's armed forces were ready to launch a counter-offensive on Bakhmut.

PHOTO Yevgeny Prigozhin, on a roof of a high-rise building in what is said to be Bakhmut, has denied preparing to withdraw from Ukraine

"The attacker has not lost hope of taking Bakhmut at all costs, despite the losses of men and equipment, very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk," Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said.

Prigozhin, who is known as “Putin's chef” for the catering contracts he won from the Kremlin leader, admitted earlier this month his Wagner forces would have to "reset and cut down its size" after the battle of the Donetsk region city.

Western officials have corroborated reports that the mercenary group has been forced to slow down after deliveries of artillery by Russia's MoD were halted and future prison recruitment drives blocked.

A recruitment notice posted earlier this week invited applicants to come forward for a six-month stint in Ukraine or nine to 14 months in Africa. Those wanting to service in African countries, where Wagner has contracts to protect mines and offer governments security services, were told they would be placed on reserve.

In response to the press reports, Prigozhin denied Wagner was preparing a withdrawal from Ukraine.

"It seems that Bloomberg knows better than we do what we are going to do," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "As long as our country needs us, we will remain fighting in Ukraine."

Lull in Bakhmut fighting

British military intelligence has revealed a recent lull in the fighting around Bakhmut, which could be fuelled by Wagner's lack of firepower. The mercenary group recruited up to 40,000 convicts, half of whom have been killed or wounded in the attempt to capture the salt-mining town.

Many of them, former murderers, rapists and thieves, were killed in frontal, human wave attacks, reminiscent of tactics from the First World War.

Prigozhin last week announced a new recruitment drive in sports centres and martial arts clubs across 42 Russian cities. But it is unclear how successful he will be in attracting new recruits given the publicised casualty rate of Wagner's troops.

It is likely the Russian defence ministry will seek to blame Prigozhin personally for an apparent slow down in Moscow's assault on Bakhmut.

In a recent report, the US-based Institute for the Study of War wrote that Shoigu was “likely seizing the opportunity to deliberately expend both elite and convict Wagner forces in Bakhmut in an effort to weaken Prigozhin and derail his ambitions for greater influence in the Kremlin".

View original: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/23/yevgeny-prigohzins-wagner-group-refocus-africa-failures-ukraine/

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US points to Wagner plot against Chad's president

Report at The Wall Street Journal - wsj.com

By Benoit Faucon

Dated 23 February 2023; 7:58 am ET - full copy:

U.S. Intelligence Points to Wagner Plot Against Key Western Ally in Africa

Officials say U.S. has shared information with Chad that Russian group is working to destabilize nation’s government

PLAY VIDEO: From action movies to techno music clips, videos on Russian social media urge young men to join the Wagner mercenary group to fight in Ukraine. The pop culture push is even more important as Wagner’s losses mount on the battlefield. Illustration: RIA FAN/Aurum Production/Cyber FrontZ

The U.S. has shared intelligence with authorities in Chad that the head of Russian paramilitary company Wagner Group is working with Chadian rebels to destabilize the government and potentially kill the president of the African nation, a key counterterrorism ally of the West, according to U.S., African and European officials.

The vast, oil-rich desert nation of Chad sits at the center of Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia, with Yevgeny Prigozhin’s help, is openly challenging decades-old economic, military and political alliances with the West. A former French colony, Chad shares long, porous borders with Libya in the north, the Central African Republic in the south and Sudan in the east—three countries where Wagner already has a presence.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

View original: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-intelligence-points-to-wagner-plot-against-key-western-ally-in-africa-29867547

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VIDEO: Wagner Group releases 100 Ukrainian PoWs

Report from The Telegraph, UK

By James Kilner

Dated Sunday 16 April 2023; 6:24pm - full copy:

Watch: Wagner Group releases 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war

Yevgeny Prigozhin is seen freeing Ukraine’s captured soldiers in what appears to be a scripted video to mark Orthodox Easter

VIDEO [ Try watching this video on www.youtube.com here: https://youtu.be/kapmHct2L3w 

or here: https://youtube.com/shorts/6iUHzG_VdlA?feature=share]

The Kremlin’s Wagner Group freed more than 100 Ukrainian prisoners to mark the Orthodox Easter in what may be the mercenary organisation’s only prisoner release of the war.

A video posted by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, showed his fighters wearing balaclavas as they watched the thin, dirty and unshaved Ukrainian soldiers walk down a muddy tree-lined road.

They were still wearing the combat fatigues that they had been captured in. Many were wounded, one man was being carried on a stretcher and another was supported by two other soldiers as he hobbled along.

“I hope you don’t fall back into our hands,” an armed Wagner soldier was filmed saying to the men before they were ordered into a truck, some loading packs of water bottles.

The PoWs are in good spirits following their release CREDIT: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War/Reuters

Since being ordered to deploy his Wagner Group mercenaries to Bakhmut last summer, Mr Prigozhin’s prominence has risen significantly and he rarely misses an opportunity for publicity.

He has accused the Russian elite of being too “decadent and lazy” and blamed them for undermining the war effort, carefully drawing comparisons between what he sees as his doughty Wagner fighters battling it out on the front line and his own high work ethic.

In what appeared to have been a scripted scene at the start of the prisoner release video, Mr Prigozhin was seen briefing a Wagner fighter.

“Prepare all of them, feed and water them, check the wounded,” he said.

He also released an earlier video of himself wearing combat uniform and carrying a rifle as he lit a candle in what appears to be a dark and abandoned church to mark Orthodox Easter. He didn’t give the location of the church but Wagner fighters have been focused on Bakhmut, which has become the focus of some of the fiercest battles since Russia’s invasion.

PHOTO The location of the prisoner swap, where the photographs and video were taken, is unknown CREDIT: Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War/Reuters

On Sunday, Wagner claimed to have taken two more blocks of the city, where Ukraine’s fighters are holed up in an increasingly tight corner. The Ukrainian authorities described levels of “unprecedented bloodshed”.

View original: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/16/wagner-group-prisoners-of-war-easter-release-prigozhin/

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Wagner starts withdrawing from Bakhmut. 10,000 prisoners hired to fight have been killed on battlefield

Report at DW (Deutsche Welle)

Dated Thursday 25 May 2023 - excerpt:

Ukraine updates: Wagner starts withdrawing from Bakhmut

"We are withdrawing the units from Bakhmut. From today at five in the morning, May 25 until June 1, most of the units will rebase to camps in the rear. We are handing our positions to the military," he said in a video posted on Telegram.

Prigozhin announced the capture of Bakhmut on Saturday after the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. He said his fighters would pull out by June 1 and regular Russian troops would move in to replace them.

According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, Russia has replaced its Wagner private military units with regular soldiers on the outskirts of Bakhmut, but the group's fighters remain inside the devastated city.

On Wednesday, Prigozhin said that around 10,000 prisoners he recruited to fight in Ukraine have been killed on the battlefield.

View original: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-wagner-starts-withdrawing-from-bakhmut/a-65728823

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Britain to blacklist Russia Wagner group as terrorists - Mercenaries given same status as Isis and al-Qaeda

Britain is poised to formally proscribe the Wagner group of mercenaries as a terrorist organisation to increase pressure on Russia

Proscription would make it a criminal offence to belong to Wagner, attend its meetings, encourage support for it or carry its logo in public, putting it on the same footing as groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda

It would also impose financial sanctions, which would be significant because the group and all its members would be barred from using UK courts to silence journalists and campaigners. Officials said it would have implications for Wagner’s ability to raise money if any funds went through British financial institutions

More recently, there have been fears the group could try to expand its presence in Sudan as the country slides towards civil war

Read more from The Times

By Steven Swinford, Political Editor 

Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Editor

George Grylls, Defence Reporter

Dated Wednesday May 10 2023, 12.01am - full copy:

Britain to blacklist Russia’s Wagner group as terrorists

Mercenaries will be given same status as Isis and al-Qaeda

Britain is poised to formally proscribe the Wagner group of mercenaries as a terrorist organisation to increase pressure on Russia.

The group has played a central role in President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and is leading attempts to take the eastern town of Bakhmut, which has become a focus of the war for both sides.

A government source said that, after two months of building a legal case, proscription of the group was “imminent” and likely to be enacted within weeks.

Proscription would make it a criminal offence to belong to Wagner, attend its meetings, encourage support for it or carry its logo in public, putting it on the same footing as groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

It would also impose financial sanctions, which would be significant because the group and all its members would be barred from using UK courts to silence journalists and campaigners. Officials said it would have implications for Wagner’s ability to raise money if any funds went through British financial institutions.

Meanwhile, Putin launched a fresh tirade against the West during a scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow to commemorate the end of the Second World War. He accused the West of “unleashing war against Russia” and said supporters of Ukraine included “neo-Nazi scum”.

There were signs, however, of the toll the Ukraine war had taken on the Russian army. In Moscow just one tank took part in the parade on Red Square — a Second World War-era Soviet T-34 — and planned celebrations in at least 21 Russian cities were cancelled.

Wagner, often referred to as a private military company, is a group of mercenaries accused of human rights abuses that came to international attention after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. It is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ex-convict and former hotdog seller known as “Putin’s chef”.

Prigozhin, 61, was able to use British courts to bring a libel case against Eliot Higgins, a British journalist, after revelations by his website Bellingcat about the group’s shadowy operations. The case collapsed in March last year after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and personal sanctions imposed on Prigozhin, but government sources said it was an example of how proscription could help to prevent Wagner’s influence and operations in the UK.

For many years Wagner was closely linked with the Kremlin but the invasion of Ukraine has led to strains in the relationship between Prigozhin and Putin. In an expletive-strewn outburst last week, Prigozhin said “scumbag” Russian generals were responsible for the deaths of Wagner fighters as he accused them of depriving them of ammunition in the nine-month battle for Bakhmut.

The Bakhmut offensive has cost Moscow thousands of casualties. Wagner, which is using prisoners to fight alongside its professional recruits, has sustained many of the losses.

As well as the war in Ukraine, the group has been involved in numerous conflicts across Africa and the Middle East — fighting for control of goldmines in the Central African Republic and helping to prop up President Assad’s regime in Syria. More recently, there have been fears the group could try to expand its presence in Sudan as the country slides towards civil war.

There has not been evidence that Wagner or individuals linked to it are operating in the UK since the war in Ukraine started and proscription is largely seen as a symbolic move. However, a government source said there had been “suspicions” that the group had helped launder money out of the UK along with organised crime groups after financial sanctions were imposed against Russian oligarchs and Putin allies in the wake of the war.

In order to proscribe the group, the Home Office would need to build a case for why the legal step was required, which could include references to classified intelligence.

Some Whitehall sources expressed cynicism over the move, given the lack of involvement of Wagner in the UK. One source said: “I don’t suppose anyone walks around London saying ‘I’m a member of the Wagner Group’. This sounds more like someone in government itching to find something else to punish Putin with.”

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “It is only right that the government appears to be finally listening to Labour’s calls for its proscription as a terrorist organisation.”

IMAGE 

GRAPH MAP

PHOTO

Wagner is still recruiting heavily in Russia

MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA

PHOTO

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner Group, has accused Russian generals of causing the deaths of his fighters in Bakhmut through ammunition shortages

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

View original: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/government-russian-wagner-group-africa-putin-war-2023-rtfjcwjxb

Sudan news round-up by Guardian Mon 24 Apr 2023

UN staff are evacuated from Port Sudan. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

From The Guardian, UK

A roundup of today’s news from The Guardian LIVE reporting

By Harry Taylor Monday 24 April 2023 18:54 BST UK

Summary

The time is approaching 8pm in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, which has been the site of fierce fighting which has led to a mass exodus and evacuation effort from the north-eastern African country.

Gun fire has been heard in Khartoum as fighting continues between the Rapid Support Force, a paramilitary group who follows the former warlord Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti, and the Sudanese army forces loyal to Abdulfatah al-Burhan, the current de facto leader of Sudan.

Here is a roundup of today’s news.

A British RAF plane has landed at port city in the north-east of Sudan as a British minister said that the UK is evaluating further military options for rescuing non-diplomats from the country by land, sea and air. 

A C17 Globemaster is on the ground at Port Sudan with some troops who may form part of a second rescue organised by the UK following Sunday’s controversial evacuation of British diplomats from the capital, Khartoum, but not other UK nationals. 

The head of the UN António Guterres has warned that the situation could engulf the whole region and that Sudan stands on the “abyss”. He said: “Let me be clear: the United Nations is not leaving Sudan. Our commitment is to the Sudanese people, in support of their wishes for a peaceful and secure future. We stand with them at this terrible time. We must all do everything within our power to pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.” 

The French embassy in Khartoum will be closed until further notice. France has airlifted 491 people from 36 countries, including 12 EU nations, to Djibouti since Sunday, according to the ministry, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports. It has also sent a warship as part of the rescue effort. 

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has raised concerns about the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner group, operating in Sudan. Wagner, who were founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have been heavily engaged in the conflict in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion. There is now a suggestion the group is active in Sudan. He told a press conference: “We do have deep concern about the engagement of the Prigozhin group – the Wagner group – in Sudan.” 

Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said that the country has been able to fly more than 300 people out of Sudan. 

The US is pushing for a ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan to be broadened to help bring the conflict to an end. Secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference that was talking “directly” with military leaders. Israel has offered to host ceasefire talks. 

The British ambassador to Sudan was on holiday when fighting broke out in the country’s capital Khartoum, according to a report in the Times of London.

That’s all from me today. I will be handing over to my colleague Gloria Oladipo.

This photograph from the Etat Major des Armees (French defence staff) shows French military personnel at French military airbase in Djibouti before they fly for Khartoum during the "Sagittaire" evacuation of about 100 people from Sudan on the first French flight out of the war-hit country after a "complicated" rescue operation.  Photo: Adj Laure-Anne Maucorps Ep Derri/Etat Major des Armées/AFP/Getty Images

Evacuees from Sudan arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

View the Guardian's Live Reporting here or here.

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