It’s more than seizing superyachts. Billions of dollars in gold have been diverted to Russia because “Putin’s personal army” is doing its usual colonial plundering. “Meroe Gold has rebranded as Al Solag Mining Company, smuggling large quantities of gold out of Sudan via air freight and land routes”
(June 2022) Sudan’s military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan issued an order preventing the search of a Russian military plane suspected of smuggling gold, a former Sudanese anti-corruption official has told the New York Times.
As part of an investigation that sheds further light on Russian involvement in Sudan’s gold mining operations, the former official said that on 23 June 2021, a Sudanese general, acting on an order from Burhan, prevented the search of a plane operated by the Russian military.
'The legend of Wagner is only a legend… I am not aware of any evidence that the Wagner Group exists'
- Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian oligarch
Most Sudanese gold passes through the United Arab Emirates. Unofficial data from the UAE reported that over $1.7bn of Sudanese gold landed in Dubai last year, representing a little less than half the value of all Sudan’s exports.
Western officials say Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch known as “Putin’s chef” because his restaurants have hosted dinners for the Russian president and accompanying foreign dignitaries, runs the Wagner Group. Prigozhin denies the claims.
Sudanese officials, who were part of an anti-corruption body that was dismantled after last year’s military coup, at the time suspected that the plane was one of a number of Russian military aircraft involved in smuggling gold directly from Sudan to Moscow.
The revelation comes as details of the involvement of the Wagner Group, a private military contractor with close links to the Kremlin, in gold mining across Sudan and its neighbouring countries continue to emerge. In Sudan, records show that the Russian mercenary network has secured lucrative Sudanese mining concessions that produce a stream of gold.
According to the New York Times, this worries US officials, who believe the concessions will boost Moscow’s $130bn gold stash, helping President Vladimir Putin’s administration circumvent the effect of economic sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war.
www.middleeasteye.net/...
Russia props up murderous regimes around the globe in exchange for siphoning resources while having their mercenaries murder all who are in the way and assist in silencing protesters w cruel and sometimes deadly means
Decades ago Russian intelligence understood that for them to gain control of a country they need to install figures in top positions in government and companies. Post collapse they started with Putin, seized the country, and then took their operations abroad.
Everywhere Russia operates they steal. They were attempting to use the same playbook in Ukraine by seizing the presidency. Instead they are stealing and committing genocide.