Wagner PMC mercenaries tried to buy weapons in China and Mali. They even managed to purchase thousands of helmets from a Chinese company.
CNN and The Financial Times write about it.
Companies that the owner of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin used for his operations in Africa were able to purchase 20 thousand helmets from a small Chinese company, Hangzhou Shinerain Import And Export Co, in November and December 2022. At the same time, the Chinese group claimed that they were intended for "gaming use".
It is noted that the purchase of the helmets, divided into four batches at a declared value of slightly more than $2 million, took place at a time when Prigozhin was recruiting tens of thousands of Russian prisoners to be sent to the front in Ukraine.
According to Alibaba, the Chinese company Hangzhou Shinerain is located in the eastern province of Zhejiang and has between 5 and 15 employees. She usually sells womenʼs clothing, that is, supplying protective headgear to the Russian Federation is not part of her usual business scheme.
Also, according to an American official, American intelligence declassified the attempts of the "Wagnerians" to supply equipment for the war in Ukraine from Mali.
PVK Wagner successfully procured equipment but also continues to work on the procurement of mines, drones, radars and counter-battery systems in Mali.
- In February of this year, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized PMK Wagner and all other Russian private military companies as terrorist organizations.
- Prior to that, the US Treasury Department recognized "Wagner PMC" as a transnational criminal organization and imposed sanctions on it.