How the Kremlin is using Wagner to launder billions in African gold
The Kremlin has earned more than US$2.5 billion from trade in African gold since Vladimir Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Regions where Wagner is accused of 10 violent incidents targeting miners between 2020-2023.
In the Central African Republic (CAR), a Wagner front company has been awarded exclusive rights to the Ndassima mine, the country’s largest gold mine, in return for propping up an authoritarian regime.
In Sudan, “the Russian company” controls a major refinery that has allowed Wagner to become the dominant buyer of unprocessed Sudanese gold, with multiple accounts of Russian military transport planes shipping processed gold out of the country.
Key locations in Wagner’s gold-smuggling operation in Sudan. Information sourced from CNN (2022).
Major mining complexes operated by four largest gold mining companies.
In Mali, Russian mercenaries are paid in cash – US$10.8 million per month according to US Intelligence – by a military junta that relies on a small number of international mining companies for the majority of its tax revenue. Canada’s Barrick Gold – the country’s top taxpayer – paid US$206 million to the junta in the first half of 2023 alone.
Turning Blood Gold Into Cash
In CAR and Sudan, where Wagner-linked entities are already subject to international sanctions, Kremlin actors rely on complex smuggling routes and corporate subterfuge tactics to extract large amounts of blood gold out of Africa to destinations such as Russia and the UAE where it can be mixed with other legitimate sources of gold and converted to cash.
In Mali, the Kremlin’s approach is designed to avoid sanctions. Blood Gold Report research shows that the four biggest mining companies operating in Mali – Barrick Gold Corporation, B2Gold, Resolute Mining and Allied Gold Corporation – continue to deliver millions in revenue to the military junta which seized control in May 2021, despite growing concerns about the humanitarian situation and documented human rights abuses including the Moura massacre where more than 500 civilians were killed by Malian troops together with Wagner mercenaries.
How to stop the Kremlin’s blood gold system
The Blood Gold Report recommends a suite of measures which, if taken collectively, can significantly hamper Wagner and Russia’s Blood Gold operations, and deliver a major financial blow to the Kremlin, to the benefit of African security and the defense of Ukraine.
These measures include:
- WIDEN sanctions to automatically target any party that employs Wagner’s security services, ensuring fitting punishment for Wagner’s benefactors.
- INTRODUCE stringent supply chain controls to prevent blood gold infiltration.
- DEMAND real responsibility from international mining companies that do business with regimes and factions that employ and fund Wagner.
- DESIGNATE Wagner a terrorist group and set the International Criminal Court on the mercenary group’s trail to ensure justice is served.
- DEEPEN collaboration between allies and international partners to close gaps in the existing sanctions framework.
- INCREASE support to African democratic states, independent media, and civil society groups directly and indirectly threatened by Wagner operations on the continent to both strengthen local resilience against Wagner’s hybrid tactics and demonstrate strength against Kremlin interference.