Russiaʼs unofficial military organization, Wagner private military company, has gained control of gold production in Sudan and is using the resource to replenish Russiaʼs gold and foreign exchange reserves and mitigate the effects of sanctions against Russia.
This is stated in the investigation of The New York Times.
The journalists obtained documents proving that the Wagnerians control the extraction of Sudanese gold and use these funds to support the ruble in the face of economic sanctions against Russia. The potential increase in the Kremlinʼs gold reserves could reach $130 billion.
In 2017, in Sochi, then-Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir met with Russian President Putin. Omar Hassan al-Bashir was losing power in the country, so he offered Putin access to minerals and the Sudanese coast in exchange for military aid.
After this meeting, geologists and mineralogists who worked in the newly established mining company Meroe Gold arrived in Sudan from Russia.
According to journalists, Meroe Gold director Mikhail Potepkin previously worked for the Internet Research Agency, also known as the Kremlinʼs "troll factory." This organization is controlled by Eugene Prigozhin — "Putinʼs cook" and curator of Wagner.
In response to a request from The New York Times, Wagner curator Eugene Prigozhin denied his involvement in gold mining in Sudan, as well as the very existence of Wagner.
- Wagner is an unofficial military organization that is not part of Russiaʼs regular armed forces and has no legal status in its territory. The military units of the private army numbered at different times and according to various estimates from 1,350 to 2,500 people. Officials in Russia deny the existence of Wagner. The UN has published a report according to which more than a thousand mercenaries of Wagner are fighting in Libya. This was previously stated by the President of Turkey. UN experts have found that most Wagner mercenaries are citizens of Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine.
- In Sudan, since 2019, Russian mercenaries from Wagner, who had previously fought in the Donbas and Syria, have been recorded. Russia is actively developing ties with African countries and trying to strengthen its military presence.
- On April 21, the EU imposed sanctions on Wagner curator Eugene Prigozhin. They note that his actions "undermined and threatened the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine."