The U.S. Treasury Department escalated its campaign against Russian financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin, designating several companies and individuals that enabled his ability to evade U.S. sanctions and support Moscow’s foreign operations.

Prigozhin, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was dubbed “Putin’s chef” because he catered meals between the Russian leader and foreign dignitaries. He has been sanctioned multiple times by the U.S., and is believed to be financing the operations of a Russian mercenary force that has a presence in several countries, according to the Treasury. 

“Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his network are exploiting Sudan’s natural resources for personal gain and spreading malign influence around the globe,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

The Kremlin condemned the latest designations. “We consider any sanctions regarding Russian citizens, regarding Russian legal entities, to be extremely negative,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladmir Putin.

The sanctions on Prigozhin’s network came as the U.S. also threatened energy companies involved in Russian pipelines, including Nord Stream 2, by updating its guidance for complying with Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

Among other things, Prigozhin has funded the operations of the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian troll farm, the Treasury said. He and the IRA were sanctioned for their role in foreign interference in the last two U.S. federal election cycles. Prigozhin’s projects have expanded despite the sanctions. His wife owns luxury real estate projects and a high-end boutique developed by firms that financed the IRA, Kharon reported last year.

Prigozhin was also one of the Russians indicted in the U.S. for the 2016 election interference. He has denied the allegations, and provided a rare declaration in March to a U.S. federal court saying he wasn’t involved with Concord Management and Consulting LLC, a Russian company accused of funding the trolling operation, until after the election was over. A federal judge on March 16 approved a request from prosecutors to drop the charges against Concord.

Prigozhin is also believed to be the financier behind the Private Military Company Wagner, a proxy force for the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Treasury said Wednesday. Two U.S. senators last month introduced a resolution condemning Prigozhin and Wagner, calling for President Donald Trump to work with lawmakers to counter his and the organization’s activity. Wagner was sanctioned in June 2017 for its activity in the Russian conflict with Ukraine.

Wagner’s overseas entanglements on behalf of Russia have been the subject of numerous media reports in recent years. U.S. Africa Command said Wednesday that the firm is complicating efforts to reach a ceasefire in Libya. In Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Libya, Wagner has generated insecurity and incited violence against civilians, according to the Treasury. 

Africa

The sanctions action on Wednesday focused on Prigozhin’s role in Sudan, with the Treasury saying it highlights the interplay between Russia’s paramilitary operations, its support for preserving authoritarian governments and the exploitation of natural resources. Sudan’s ousted former leader Omar al-Bashir had cemented cooperation with Russia, receiving military assistance in exchange for stakes in some of the country’s economic sectors, including oil, natural gas, agriculture and gold, according to the Treasury. Following Bashir’s April 2019 ouster, Sudan formed a civilian led government, which has taken steps to increase equality as the country seeks its removal from the U.S. State Department’s state sponsors of terrorism list. 

M Invest, a Russia-based wholesale trading and resource extraction firm, serves as a cover for Wagner forces operating in Sudan and was responsible for developing plans for Bashir to suppress protestors seeking democratic reforms, according to the Treasury. The company’s plans urged the use of IRA-style disinformation campaigns and the staging of public executions, the Treasury said. Documents reviewed by CNN provided a glimpse of the disinformation activity.

Lobaye Invest SARLU, based in the Central African Republic (CAR), is an M Invest subsidiary that won exploration rights at seven sites to look for diamonds and gold, according to a report by Africa Intelligence and documents reviewed by CNN. Lobaye Invest also funds a CAR radio station and finances the training of army recruits by Russian mercenaries, CNN reported. Prigozhin himself once showed up for peace talks with CAR rebels, the New York Times reported.

M Invest received exploration concessions in 2017 from Sudan for gold mining during a 2017 Russia-Sudan summit, according to the Treasury. The company relies on its local subsidiary, Meroe Gold Co. Ltd., to oversee its activities on the ground in Sudan, the Treasury said. It signed a contract with a unit of the Russian Ministry of Defense that made eight flights from Moscow to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, via an airbase in Syria, Ukrainian security services said in a January 2019 press release.

The agreement between M Invest and Sudan over gold-mining concessions was the subject of a June 2018 report by The Bell, a Russian investigative news agency. However, the post-Bashir Sudanese government scrapped a deal with Meroe Gold, saying it “refused to implement this directive,” according to a statement issued in March by the Ministry of Energy and Mining. 

Meroe Gold continued to import supplies from various Russian suppliers as recently as November of 2019, according to a review of shipping records by Kharon. Meroe Gold has imported various car parts, some of which were produced by Yaroslav Motor Plant, a company minority owned by GAZ Group, which is under U.S. sanctions due to its ownership by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Meroe Gold has also imported various industrial machinery and equipment, records show.  

Two individuals, Andrei Mandel and Mikhail Potepkin, respectively M Invest’s director general and regional director, help carry out the company’s activities, according to the Treasury. 

Mandel holds a small stake in M Invest, but its main owner is Delta AO, which has 99 percent of the company, according to Russian corporate records. Delta AO, a management consulting firm, was founded and is led by Yevgeniy Mikhailovich Ushakov, records show.

Potepkin, meanwhile, has ties to multiple people sanctioned for involvement in Russian political  influence efforts and was once commissioner of the pro-Kremlin Youth Movement “Nashi.” He owns 20 percent of a Moscow-based computer repair company called Ayti Debagger OOO, according to Russian records, the remaining shares of which are held by Anna Bogacheva, who was sanctioned in March 2018 for working for Prigozhin’s IRA.

Potepkin is also on the board of trustees for the Foundation for the Protection of National Values, a Moscow-based think tank founded by Aleksandr Malkevich, who has been referred to in U.S. media reports as a Russian troll and a propagandist. Malkevich was sanctioned in December 2018 for operating USA Really, a Russian-funded, English-language website founded by the Federal News Agency (FAN), a successor to the IRA.

Asia

Companies based in Hong Kong and Thailand were sanctioned for supporting Prigozhin’s efforts in Sudan and maintaining his private aircraft, according to the Treasury. The aircraft were identified as blocked property in September 2019, the Treasury noted. 

The three entities -- Shine Dragon Group Limited, Shen Yang Jing Cheng Machinery Imp & Exp. Co. and Zhe Jiang Jiayi Small Commodities Trade Company Limited -- facilitated more than 100 transactions exceeding USD 7.5 million that were sent in Prigozhin’s interest, the Treasury said. 

Shine Dragon alone sent more than USD 6.5 million to M Invest, while all three companies were responsible for making numerous payments totaling more than USD 800,000 for Prigozhin’s private aircraft, the Treasury said. The aircraft operated in several countries where Prigozhin sought to extend his influence prior to the listing, according to the Treasury.

Igor Lavrenkov, who was also sanctioned Wednesday, was the director and owner of Shine Dragon throughout the course of the financial activity, and he was personally involved in establishing the relationship with M Invest, according to the Treasury. Lavrenkov also was a director in the other two companies, both of which are owned by Shine Dragon.

Lavrenkov transferred his ownership of Shine Dragon in October 2019 to Varvara Anatolyevna Mirochnik, who has a Saint Kitts and Nevis passport one number off from his own, according to Hong Kong corporate records. Despite the ownership transfer, he remains a director of Shen Yang Jing Cheng Machinery and Zhe Jiang Jiayi Small Commodities, records show.

Shine Dragon controls a group of companies under the brand name of “Flash Asia,” which is based in Moscow, the company’s website says. The website names Shen Yang Jing Cheng Machinery and Zhe Jiang Jiayi Small Commodities, as well as a third company based in Slovakia called Flash Asia Logistic s.r.o, which is minority owned by Lavrenkov. 

The Slovakian entity is 85 percent owned by Aleksandr Ushchev, who is also its managing director. Ushchev and Lavrenkov each own 50 percent of Konus OOO, a Moscow-based law, accounting and advertising firm, according to Russian records.  

Lavrenkov is also the executive director of Beijing Flash Asia International Freight Forwarding Agency Co., Ltd., Chinese records show. Flash Asia provides logistics and transportation services via a number of Russian airlines, including Transaero, Aviastar-TU, Ural Airlines, and S7 Airlines, according to its website. Flash Asia has offices in the Domodedovo Airport in Moscow and the Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, according to its Facebook page.