The United States imposed sanctions on the head of the Wagner PMC in Mali on Thursday, accusing a Russian private military company of trying to cover up efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, as well as working through Mali and d ‘other countries.
The US Treasury Department, in a statement, also accused Ivan Maslov, whom it described as the leader of Wagner’s paramilitaries and Mali-based chief administrator, of working closely with Malian government officials to deploy the group in Mali.
“Treasury Department sanctions against the top Wagner Group official in Mali exposed and disrupted the work of a key operative supporting the group’s global operations,” the Assistant Treasury Secretary for Counterterrorism said. and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, in a statement.
The move comes after State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that Wagner was trying to buy military systems from foreign suppliers and smuggle those weapons through Mali.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, called the US allegations a “hoax” at a press conference on Wednesday and urged Washington to consider the impact of its own military exports.
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
