WASHINGTON: The US State Department has said that Russia’s Wagner mercenary has attempted to hide efforts to obtain military equipment from the international market for use against Ukraine and is seeking to transit such supplies through Mali.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Wagner, a mercenary fighting alongside Russian armed troops in Ukraine, was willing to use the wrong paperwork to ship military equipment through Mali.
Miller said, “We have been informed that Wagner is seeking to transit material acquisitions to aid Russia’s war through Mali and is willing to use the wrong paperwork for these transactions.”
He said, “In fact, there’re indications that Wagner has been attempting to purchase arms from foreign suppliers and route these arms through Mali.”
“We’ve not seen any indications that these acquisitions have been finalised or executed yet, but we’re monitoring the situation closely.”
Miller added that the US had imposed sanctions on citizens and entities “across multiple continents” who have been found to “help Wagner’s military operations”, and Washington would’ve more to say soon on the attempt to ship equipment through Mali.
Earlier this month, the French parliament adopted the resolution calling on the EU to formally declare the Wagner mercenary force a “terror group”, a move that followed after the United States declared Wagner a “transnational criminal organisation” in January.
Wagner and its entrepreneur owner Yevgeny Prigozhin have been repeatedly sanctioned by the United States and EU for human rights abuses in Africa and for involving in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Western countries have raised concerns over the activities of Wagner mercenaries in Mali.
