UK implements sanctions against Wagner Group for war crimes in Africa

The UK has implemented sanctions against 13 individuals and businesses linked to the actions of the Russian Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) in Mali, Central African Republic and Sudan.

Source: European Pravda with reference to the decision of the UK government published on 20 July

Details: This includes three designations for the mercenary group’s top officials in Mali and CAR, including Konstantin Pikalov, the ‘right hand man’ of Yevgeny Prigozhin. A further five businesses and individuals were involved in threatening peace and stability in Sudan.

The UK government reports that the Wagner PMC has been active in Mali, CAR and Sudan for several years, "aggressively pursuing Russia’s foreign policy interests and providing military support to counter-terrorism operations which have seen hundreds of civilians killed".

The UK has implemented the sanctions against Wagner PMC, its founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin and several of his key commanders who have participated in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

One of the sanctioned individuals is the head of the Wagner Group in Mali, Ivan Maslov. Wagner mercenaries, alongside Malian forces, massacred at least 500 people in Moura in March 2022, including summary executions as well as rape and torture.

Vitalii Perfilev, head of the Wagner Group in CAR, and Konstantin Pikalov, the Wagner Group’s head of operations in the country, are sanctioned for deliberately targeting civilians.

Pikalov, Prigozhins’ "right hand man", is the operational head of Wagner in CAR. He is responsible for the Wagner Group’s torture and targeted killings of civilians.

Wagner Group has also provided weapons and military equipment to Sudan. Three Wagner Group front businesses operating in the country pose continued risk to peace and stability and thus have been included in the new measures. These include M-Invest, and its subsidiary Meroe Gold. 

The implemented sanctions will restrict the financial freedom of targeted individuals, banning UK citizens, businesses and banks from working with them, and froze all their assets in the UK, as well as prohibit entry into the UK.

Background: 

• On 13 April, the EU added Wagner PMC and Russian information agency FAN, linked to Prigozhin, to the sanctions list. On 20 April, Switzerland imposed the same sanctions.  

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