More Wagner Group Africa Sanctions

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies that are linked to the Private Military Company “Wagner” (Wagner Group).

Mining Industries SARLU and Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024 for enabling Wagner Group security operations and Wagner Group-linked illicit mining endeavors in the Central African Republic (CAR). 

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

This network has advanced Russia’s destabilizing activities at the expense of CAR’s sovereignty, including the Wagner Group’s destructive operations and Wagner Group-linked companies’ involvement in illicit gold and diamond mining and logging.

OFAC has taken previous action against several Wagner Group-linked companies in CAR, including Lobaye Invest, Midas Ressources SARLU, and Bois Rouge SARLU (Bois Rouge), now known as Wood International Group SARLU. 

OFAC collaborated closely with Homeland Security Investigations during the investigation of Mining Industries. 

Mining Industries SARLU (Mining Industries) is a CAR-based mining company that the Wagner Group’s chief logistician, Valery Chekalov––who reportedly died alongside Prigozhin in August 2023–– used to lease aircraft from Kratol Aviation (Kratol), a UAE-based aviation company.

The Wagner Group uses aircraft leased by Mining Industries to move personnel and equipment through CAR and elsewhere in Africa. Additionally, Mining Industries has imported chemicals commonly used in mining, including hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and sodium cyanide, presumably to advance Wagner Group-linked illicit mining. 

Logistique Economique Etrangere SARLU (Logistique) is a CAR-based company that in 2021 received hundreds of shipments of heavy materials from Limited Liability Company Broker Expert (Broker Expert), a Russia-based company linked to Prigozhin that has supported Russian interests in Ukraine and throughout Africa.

The shipments Logistique received from Broker Expert were likely intended for Wagner Group-linked illicit mining, such as developing a mining site or building a new processing plant. 

The United States has sanctioned numerous entities and individuals globally that support the Wagner Group. The Wagner Group has committed widespread human rights abuses, and companies linked to the group have appropriated natural resources across multiple countries in Africa. A proxy paramilitary force of the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has carried out combat operations around the world, including in Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine. 

Wagner Group personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions, and other brutalities against innocents in the CAR and Mali..

The Wagner Group has also been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

[Treasury Press Release]