ISW: New US sanctions target Wagner Group's global support network

WORLD  27 January 2023 - 10:39

The United States is trying to interfere with the activities of the Wagner Group's activities outside Ukraine.

Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) made the remarks in a daily report on the Ukraine war on January 26, Caliber.Az reports.

"The United States Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting the Wagner Group’s global support network, likely in response to the Wagner Group’s renewed efforts to support its operations outside of Ukraine," the ISW report said.

The analysts said that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 16 entities that support the Wagner Group’s military operations as sanctioned entities including a Russian-based technology firm, a Chinese-based satellite imagery company, a Central African Republic security company controlled by the Wagner Group, a United Arab Emirates-based aviation firm, and several Russian nationals.

"The announcement of secondary sanctions on specified entities outside of Russia and the focus on the Wagner Group’s activities in the Sahel suggests that the US Treasury Department is in part trying to constrain the Wagner Group’s likely renewed focus on conducting operations outside of Ukraine. The Wagner Group has likely renewed efforts to increase security capacity building and counterterrorism roles in African countries, roles that the Wagner Group had focused heavily on before committing serious resources to the Russian invasion of Ukraine," the analysts said.

Key takeaways

Russian forces launched another massive series of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine on January 26.

A recent altercation between Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and former Russian officer Igor Girkin is exposing a new domain for competition among Russian nationalist groups for political influence in Russia against the backdrop of Russian military failures in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin continued his campaign against critical and opposition voices by cracking down on several major opposition media outlets.

The United States Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting the Wagner Group’s global support network, likely in response to the Wagner Group’s renewed efforts to reinvigorate its operations outside of Ukraine.

Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces relaunched counteroffensive operations near Kreminna.

Russian forces continued ground attacks around Bakhmut, on the western outskirts of Donetsk City, and in the Vuhledar area.

Ukrainian officials reported that Russian forces in Zaporizhia Oblast are not conducting offensive operations at the size or scale necessary for a full-scale offensive.

Russian military bloggers claimed that Russian forces continued to conduct limited and localized ground attacks in Zaporizhia Oblast.

The Wagner Group likely experienced significant losses in attritional offensive operations in eastern Ukraine over the past few months.

Russian occupation officials are reportedly continuing to “nationalize” property and close places of worship belonging to the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Christian communities in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast in an effort to establish the Kremlin-affiliated Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox Church as the dominant faith in the region.

Caliber.Az