The United States imposed sanctions against a Russian suspected in connection with PMC "Wagner"

The US Treasury has placed Russian Ivan Maslov on the sanctions list on suspicion of involvement in the Wagner PMC in Mali. According to the department, he is the HEAD and chief administrator of the formation in this country, this is stated on the website of the ministry.

“The presence of the Wagner group on the African continent is a destabilizing force for any country to place the resources of the group on their sovereign territory,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury for Combating Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.

According to the Finance Ministry, Maslov worked closely with government officials in Mali to deploy the unit in the country. He provided housing for the arriving fighters and organized meetings between the founder of the PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and representatives of the governments of several African states.

The US restrictions include the freezing of assets in this country and the prohibition of American citizens and companies from doing business with those who are on the sanctions list.

In 2021, Prime Minister of Mali Kokalla Maiga said that France , having decided to complete the anti-terrorist operation "Barkhan", directed against Islamic terrorist groups, put Mali in front of the need to "fill the void" after the departure of French troops. In September, France 24 sources reported that the Malian authorities would recruit Wagner PMCs to train their military, and this information was later confirmed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Prigozhin has been under sanctions from the United States (since 2016), CANADA (since February 2022) and the European Union (since April 2022). PMC "Wagner" came under restrictions in 2017. In December 2022, Washington tightened EXPORT controls on PMCs to limit the group's access to equipment made using American equipment.

On February 27, 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions against companies associated with Prigozhin. These are Concord Management and Consulting, Ritm, Aurum, Concord M, Food Plant, Federal News Agency and PMC Wagner Center.