The UK government announced sanctions on Thursday against three private mercenary groups operating in Africa with links to the Kremlin, including Wagner group successor Africa Corps.
“These sanctions will bear down on Russian malign activity in Libya, Mali, and CAR (Central African Republic), exposing and combatting Russia’s illicit activity in Africa,” a government statement said, announcing its latest package of measures against Russia.
The UK government said the measures were the first direct sanctions against Africa Corps by a G7 country.
Moscow was a key player in Africa during Soviet times and has been boosting its influence on the continent again in recent years.
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group or its successor, Africa Corps, now support several African governments, and Russian “advisers” work with local officials.
The British sanctions come before Russia holds a large gathering of African foreign ministers in Sochi, southern Russia, this weekend.
As well as Africa Corps, the private military group Espanola and the Bears Brigade organisation are also being sanctioned.
London accused the three groups of “widespread human rights abuses” across the African continent, adding that they had “threatened peace and security in Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic”.
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Punitive measures
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the sanctions would continue the UK’s “pushback on the Kremlin’s corrosive foreign policy, undermining Russia’s attempts to foster instability across Africa and disrupting the supply of vital equipment for Putin’s war machine” in Ukraine.
The punitive measures are part of the UK’s biggest package of sanctions against Russia since May 2023.
Others targeted include suppliers of machine tools, components for drones, ball bearings and other goods that support Russia’s military.
Also being sanctioned is GRU Russian intelligence agency agent Denis Sergeev.
London believes Sergeev was involved in a chemical weapon attack on the UK city of Salisbury in 2018 against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Both survived but a local woman who came into contact with the weapons-grade nerve agent Novichok died.
UK counter-terrorism chiefs in 2021 said there was enough evidence to charge Sergeev with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, causing grievous bodily harm, and possession and use of a chemical weapon.
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s biggest backers in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, committing to delivering £3.0 billion ($3.9 billion) of military aid every year for as long as needed.
“Putin is nearly 1,000 days into a war he thought would only take a few. He will fail and I will continue to bear down on the Kremlin and support the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom,” Lammy said.
Other sanctions packages last month took aim at Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers, used to sidestep a Western embargo on oil exports after its invasion of Ukraine.
In October, Britain also sanctioned the chemical and biological arm of Russia’s armed forces and its commander, Igor Kirillov, over the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Russia was hit with a first wave of sanctions following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The West tightened the screws after Moscow launched a full-fledged invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
But Russia’s economy has withstood the shock, growing 5.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year as its trade relations with Asia and the Middle East soared.
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