US imposes sanctions on Wagner Group-linked firms in Central African Republic

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Treasury Department announced Thursday it imposed sanctions on two companies in the Central African Republic (CAR) that are linked to the Wagner Group in Russia.

The companies are Mining Industries SARLU and Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU, which enabled Wagner's security operations and illicit mining endeavors in the CAR, it said in a statement.

It said the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group and companies, formerly controlled by the now-deceased Yevgeny Prigozhin, have established a vast security and business network in the CAR, among other African counties, since it arrived in the CAR in late 2017.

The network has advanced Russia’s destabilizing activities at the expense of the CAR’s sovereignty, which included the Wagner Group-linked companies’ involvement in illicit gold and diamond mining and logging, it said.

"The Russia-backed Wagner Group and its network of businesses have exploited the people and natural resources of the Central African Republic to advance the group’s agenda," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.

The Treasury said the Wagner Group uses aircraft leased by Mining Industries SARLU to move personnel and equipment through the CAR and elsewhere in Africa, while the company has imported chemicals commonly used in mining, such as hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and sodium cyanide, presumably to advance Wagner Group-linked illicit mining.

Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU received hundreds of shipments of heavy materials from a Russia-based company linked to Prigozhin that has supported Russian interests in Ukraine and throughout Africa, it said.