More Wagner Group Sanctions in Africa

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.

The March 8 action targets the operations of  Private Military Company ‘Wagner’ (Wagner Group) and, by extension, the activities of the Russian Federation.

Those designated sought monetary gain from illicit natural resource extraction and provided material and financial support to the Wagner Group and other organizations associated with the enterprise of Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the former Wagner Group owner who died in August 2023 in a plane explosion in Russia. 

“Russia has sought to leverage these Wagner-affiliated companies in its efforts both to secure additional revenue from abroad and to advance its interests in Africa, often at the expense of the host countries, their institutions, and their citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.

“The United States remains focused on disrupting the networks that enable Russia’s illicit and destabilizing activities in Africa.”

PRIGOZHIN ENTERPRISE COMPANIES

Bois Rouge SARLU (Bois Rouge), a.k.a. Wood International Group SARLU, is a Bangui, CAR-based timber company., Bois Rouge received a natural resources concession in exchange for the services the Wagner Group provided in CAR. Bois Rouge acquired a timber permit in early 2021 around the same time Wagner Group mercenaries, in conjunction with CAR military forces, seized control of the corresponding area from rebels opposed to the CAR government. This land is in CAR’s Lobaye prefecture, which is part of the Congo Basin and contains some of the largest undeveloped tracks of rainforest in the world. Bois Rouge has since exported tropical timber species, such as azobe, iroko, mukulungu, sapeli, and tali, to buyers in China, the Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia. In 2022, Bois Rouge’s name changed to Wood International Group SARLU.

Limited Liability Company Broker Expert (Broker Expert) is a St. Petersburg, Russia-based company with a lengthy track record of supporting Prigozhin’s exploits throughout Africa. Broker Expert has exported goods to several Prigozhin-associated companies, including dozens of shipments to Bois Rouge in CAR, multipurpose vehicles to U.S.-designated Meroe Gold Co. LTD. in Sudan, and helmets to Wagner Group forces in Ukraine. Moreover, 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.

THE WAGNER GROUP

The United States has sanctioned numerous entities and individuals globally that support the Wagner Group and other Russian private military companies. The Wagner Group has committed widespread human rights abuses and has appropriated natural resources across multiple countries in Africa. A proxy military force of the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has carried out combat operations around the world, including in Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine. Wagner has also participated in a scheme to procure weapons for its operations in Ukraine, using false end-use certificates in Mali.