United Nations This article is more than 1 year oldRussian mercenaries ‘exploiting Africa to fund war in Ukraine’
This article is more than 1 year oldUS ambassador to the UN said Wagner Group are trafficking natural resources from African nations
The United States has accused Russian mercenaries of exploiting natural resources in Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan and elsewhere to help fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine, a charge Russia rejected as “anti-Russian rage”.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the Wagner Group of mercenaries are exploiting natural resources and “these ill-gotten gains are used to fund Moscow’s war machine in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine”.
“Make no mistake: people across Africa are paying a heavy price for the Wagner Group’s exploitative practices and human rights violations,” Thomas-Greenfield told a UN security council meeting on the financing of armed groups through illicit trafficking of natural resources in Africa.
Wagner, staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has fought in Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Mali and other countries. It was founded in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and started supporting pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia,said he regretted that Thomas-Greenfield raised the issue of “Russian support to African partners”.
“This exposes their real plans and aims – what they really need from African countries,” said Nebenzia, without elaborating.
Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine came at a time of heightened rivalry between the west, China and Russia over Africa’s natural resources, trade and security ties. Some states worry about being squeezed in the middle of an intense geopolitical rivalry.
Russia has been trying to chip away at its international isolation after nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand Moscow and demand it withdraw its troops within a week of its 24 February invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
Next week, the 193-member General Assembly willvote on whether to condemn Moscow’s annexationof four partly occupied regions in Ukraine after staging what it called referendums.
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