The United States State Department ~, said that Russia’s Wagner mercenary army has made an effort to conceal efforts to acquire military supplies from outside for use in the conflict in Ukraine and is looking to transit such goods through Mali.
At a news conference on Monday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller informed reporters that the private mercenary group, which is , to send military equipment through Mali. Miller stated, “We have been informed that Wagner is intending to use fake documentation for these transactions in order to transit material acquisitions to support Russia’s war through Mali.
In fact, he claimed, there are signs that Wagner has been attempting to buy military equipment from overseas vendors and then send the guns through Mali as a middleman. “We have not yet noticed any signs that these acquisitions have been completed or carried out, but we are closely watching the situation.”
Miller continued, “The US has slapped penalties on individuals and businesses “across many continents” who have been discovered to “assist Wagner’s military operations” and Washington would have more to say soon about the attempt to transfer equipment through Mali. The US and EU have repeatedly sanctioned Wagner and its businessman owner Yevgeny Prigozhin for violating human rights in Africa and taking part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, the UN noted that “witnesses reported seeing ‘armed white men’ operating alongside the Malian forces and at times appearing to supervise operations.” The military leaders of Mali and Russia have previously argued that the Wagner employees there are not mercenaries but rather trainers assisting local troops with military gear imported from Russia.
Concerns regarding the Wagner mercenaries’ conduct in Mali have also been expressed by Western nations. The UN Human Rights Office reported earlier this month that a fact-finding investigation had found “strong indications” that more than 500 people had been killed in Mali by local troops and foreign soldiers, who were thought to be from Wagner, during an operation in March 2022 that lasted five days in the village of Moura in the country’s central Mopti region. According to the UN, the majority of those slain were executed.
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