Watch Kharon's 20 minute Quick Take webinar to explore the global commercial interests of the Wagner Group and the recent sanctions and advisories by western governments related to Wagner’s involvement in gold trade and other natural resource exploitation. The session provides detailed insights into the group's commercial reach and sanctions evasion methods.

-----

Long before the recent mutiny orchestrated by Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group in Russia, the sanctioned paramilitary organization has served as a proxy in the Kremlin’s efforts to bolster its geopolitical influence and extend its commercial interests in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Prigozhin, along with an intricate web of confidants and associates, has established a labyrinth of front companies. Many of these associates have benefited from the mining, trading, and selling of natural resources, like gold and diamonds, to finance the Wagner Group’s operations and to enrich themselves.

Despite years of Western sanctions aimed at crippling the Wagner Group and its leadership, new affiliated companies have been established and continue to operate in the same sectors that underpin their operations.