The founder of the Russian PMC Wagner Yevheniy Pryhozhyn received more than $250 million in income over the past four years from the extraction of resources in various countries in Asia and Africa.
This is stated in the Financial Times investigation.
In 2018, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Pryhozhyn-controlled company Evro Polis, which received energy concessions from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for Wagnerʼs mercenaries liberating oil fields from Islamists during the war. Evro Polisʼ reporting shows that the sanctions have had a limited impact on its operations, with the company continuing to generate sales of $134 million in 2020, with a net profit of $90 million that year.
Pryhozhynʼs other operations are much smaller, but he continues to trade despite the sanctions. M Invest company — a gold mining company in Sudan that was sanctioned by the U.S. government in July 2020 — still received $2.6 million the following year.
Two companies that shipped large quantities of industrial equipment to Wagner-backed companies in Sudan and the Central African Republic have generated more than $6 million in revenue by the end of 2021.
- On January 26, the U.S. Department of the Treasury recognized the Russian PMC "Wagner" as a transnational criminal organization and imposed new sanctions against it and those who support it.
- The Russian PMC "Wagner" takes an active part in the war against Ukraine and is involved not only in battles, but also in the construction of defense fortifications in the occupied territories. Also, the "Wagnerians" are probably responsible for a number of executions of video prisoners and war crimes.