US targets Wagner Group in Mali with sanctions and visa restrictions

The United States has designated the alleged leader of the Wagner Group’s operations in Mali, as well as imposing visa restrictions on two Malian military commanders accused of involvement in a March 2022 massacre in which the UN says 500 people were killed.

The Treasury Department said it was blacklisting Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, who it identified as Wagner’s top man in Mali.

‘The Wagner Group may be seeking to transit material acquisitions for Ukraine through Mali, and is willing to use false paperwork for these transactions. There are indications that the Wagner Group has been attempting to purchase military systems from foreign suppliers and to route these weapons through Mali as a third party,’ the Treasury said, 25 May. ‘For example, the Wagner Group employees may have been attempting to work through Mali to acquire warfighting equipment such as mines, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, radar, and counterbattery systems for use in Ukraine.’

Meanwhile, the US State Department said it was targeting two Malian military commanders for working with Wagner to carry out a massacre in Moura in which the United Nations says 500 people were killed.

It imposed visa restrictions on Colonel Moustaph Sangare, then-Commander of the 33rd Parachute Commando Regiment, and Major Lassine Togola, Acting Commander of the Autonomous Special Forces Battalion (BAFS), saying they were responsible for elements of the Malian Armed Forces that conducted the operation in Moura.

‘In March 2022, elements of the Malian Armed Forces with the support of members of the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group – a transnational criminal organisation – conducted a military operation in Moura, Mali, which killed more than 500 people according to the UN Human Rights Office,’ a State Department statement said.