The US Treasury Department sanctioned two entities on March 8 which it says are promoting Russia’s Wagner Group and its activities in Africa.
US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson said in a statement on March 8: “Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies – one in Russia and one in the Central African Republic (CAR) – for their efforts in advancing Russia’s malign activities in CAR. Today’s targets have played an important role enabling the Private Military Company ‘Wagner’ (Wagner Group) and, by extension, the activities of the Russian Federation.”
“The United States remains focused on disrupting the networks that enable Russia’s illicit and destabilizing activities in Africa,” said Nelson through the statement.
The two companies include Bois Rouge SARLU (Bois Rouge), a.k.a. Wood International Group SARLU a CAR-based timber company and Limited Liability Company Broker Expert(Broker Expert) a St. Petersburg, Russia-based company who according to the US have supported Wagner’s exploits throughout Africa.
“Bois Rouge is just one of many Prigozhin-associated companies operating in CAR, which constitutes a vast malign network spanning the spectrum of CAR’s political, economic, and information sectors,” the statement said. It accused the company of receiving concessions in return for enabling Wagner to work freely in the country.
Coming to Limited Liability Company Broker Expert(Broker Expert) the statement said: “Prigozhin’s enterprise had used Broker Expert, among other companies, to regularly move cash to fund malign activities. For example, in Madagascar, a Prigozhin-associated company involved in a joint mining venture with a Malagasy state-owned enterprise received funds from Broker Expert,” said Nelson. The US Treasury Department statement also accused the company of acting “directly or indirectly for the group” in the CAR.
The Wagner group is a private mercenary army created by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. It is believed to have worked extensively in Africa, to further Russian interests, especially in Mali, CAR, and Burkina Faso.
Washington has imposed “sanctions on numerous entities and individuals globally that support the Wagner Group and other Russian private military companies,” according to the US Treasury Department release.
Prigozhin died in August 2023, after the plane he was in crashed on a flight from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. This came after he carried out what was seen as a coup against President Putin.
Reports suggest that the group was disbanded in June 2023, by Putin and officially brought under the Kremlin’s control.
