The Blood Gold report

 Africa. The Blood Gold report, RDI (The bigger picture).

- The Blood Gold report is about how the Kremlin uses Wagner to launder billions in African gold.

The scenario is as follows (The blood gold report):

"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 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." (read the full text and the report with 62 pages in the link)

The Blood Gold report:

https://bloodgoldreport.com/

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."

***

RDI (Renew Democracy Initiative: "African gold is funding the war in Ukraine" (January 17, 2024)

https://rdi.org/articles/african-gold-is-funding-the-war-in-ukraine/

The bigger picture

"In Mali, Sudan, and the Central African Republic, lucrative mining rights have proven to be just the tip of the spear for Russia in developing larger and more important relationships with the local authorities.

A year after Wagner first arrived in Mali, the government began receiving shipments of military helicopters and planes from the Russian state. The Sudanese government is in the process of permitting a new Russian naval base which could house nuclear submarines. Just this week, a representative of the Central African Republic announced that the government “would like Russia to build a base in CAR” and “the government has already provided a plot of land in Berengo” which could house 10,000 troops." (the full text in the link!)