The US Treasury Department said in a statement that it had imposed sanctions on Wagner’s chief in Mali, saying the group’s employees may try to pass through the African country to obtain equipment such as mines, drones, radars and anti-artillery systems for use in Ukraine.
“Treasury sanctions against the Wagner Group’s top representative in Mali identify and disrupt a key element underpinning the group’s global operations,” Brian Nelson, U.S. undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement.
“The presence of the Wagner Group on the African continent represents a destabilizing force for any country that allows the group’s resources to be deployed in territory under its sovereignty,” he added.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller warned that Wagner was seeking to transfer military equipment via Mali, which was denied by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who called the US accusations a “hoax”.
Who is the boss of “Wagner” in Mali?
The Treasury Department imposed its sanctions on Ivan Alexandrovich Maslov, whom it accused of working in close coordination with financial government officials to spread Wagner around the country. Maslov, according to the US department, also organizes meetings between the founder of “Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin and government officials from several African countries. The department’s action freezes all of Maslov’s assets in the United States and generally bars Americans from doing business with him.
Western countries have raised concerns about Wagner’s activities in Mali since late 2021, but Mali has confirmed that Russian forces there are not mercenaries, but rather trainers who help local forces use guns. equipment purchased in Moscow.
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