According to the Blood Gold Report investigation, dictator Vladimir Putin's team earned more than $2.5 billion from trading African gold over the past two years, using the Wagner group for this purpose.
Wagner group enables the Kremlin to earn billions of dollars
It is essential to understand that the Blood Gold Report is a group that investigates the links between Western mining companies, military regimes and Russian mercenaries in Africa.
According to investigators, Wagner's shell company in the Central African Republic (CAR) obtained exclusive rights to the Ndassima mine, the country's largest gold mine. In return, Putin's mercenaries promised to support the authoritarian regime in the CAR.
In addition, it is emphasized that the Wagner mercenaries have established control over a large oil refinery in Sudan.
This has enabled Wagner Group to become the dominant buyer of Sudanese raw gold, with several accounts of Russian military transport aircraft delivering processed gold from the country.
In Mali, the military junta, which is linked to "Wagner", and seized control of the country in May 2021, receives millions in revenue by controlling the four largest mining companies — Barrick Gold Corporation, B2Gold, Resolute Mining and Allied Gold Corporation. Moreover, most of the income goes in cash — at least 10.8 million dollars per month.
Western countries become buyers of gold from the Wagner Group
Investigators draw attention to the fact that Western countries do not shy away from the gold sold by Putin's mercenaries.
For example, the Barrick Gold company in Canada paid $206 million to "Wagner" in Mali only for the first half of 2023.
In the CAR and Sudan, where Wagner-linked organizations are already subject to international sanctions, Kremlin proxies rely on sophisticated smuggling routes and corporate underhand tactics to get large volumes of blood gold out of Africa to places like Russia and the UAE, where it is mixed with other legitimate sources of gold and converted into cash.
