Gold in exchange for mercenaries: how the "Putin cook" mines "key to Africa" ​​for Russia

Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS

As it became known to The Bell, after the meeting of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev with President Omar Bashir, the company associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin began to search for gold in this country. The fighters of the PMC of Wagner went there.

Details

The structures of Yevgeny Prigozhin got the opportunity to work in Sudan immediately after last year’s negotiations by Putin and Medvedev with the president of this country Omar Bashir.

• Putin's meeting with Bashir took place at the end of November 2017 at the Sochi Residence of Bocharov stream, and the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu was present at the negotiations. Presidents talked about the possible creation of the Russian military base on the Red Sea. Bashir then stated that his country needs protection against the "aggressive" US policy. The President of Sudan himself is accused of genocide of Darfur and is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. These negotiations were served by the Catering Company Prigozhin "Concord M", says one of The Bell's interlocutors.
• Then Medvedev met with Bashir. The government’s website says that they discussed issues of trade and economic cooperation, and following the results of negotiations they signed several agreements -for example, on visa-free trips for owners of diplomatic passports. In a general package of documents, concession agreements for gold mining between the Ministry of Mineral Resources of the Republic of Sudan and the unknown LLC Mm Invest were signed.
• The division of this company in Sudan called Meroe Gold has already begun exploration of deposits in Sudan, Two sources familiar with the course of the November negotiations told The Bell. Both claim that M Invest represents Prigozhin's interests.

Intelligence is carried out in five sites, in total about 50 geologists and other specialists are involved in the work, one of them says. How much the company is counting on - it is incomprehensible. As of 2016, Sudan ranked third place in gold mining in Africa with a production volume of more than 90 tons per year. In 2017, the Sudanese government planned to reach a volume of 100 tons per year and enter the top 10 gold mining countries in the world. According to the Chinese agency "Xinhua", last year, Sudan even exceeded this indicator.

The fact that “M Invest” is connected with Evgeny Prigozhin can also be judged by a number of indirect features:

• “M Invest” was registered in February 2017 in St. Petersburg. The head and co -owner of Mol Invest Andrei Mandel previously headed the Eurogroup company, which the Fontanka edition associated with Prigozhin. The publication of Genline in its Medium blog also drew attention to this company with Prigozhin.
• The second co -owner of “M Invest” is Evgeny Ushakov, who is connected through the owners of the company Megaline through a chain of firms and their owners - a company whose half of which was owned by Concord Management and Consulting Evgeny Prigozhin. In 2015-2016, Megaline won the numerous tenders of the Ministry of Defense, in which other Prigozhin structures participated .
• On the part of “M Invest”, the concession agreement with Sudan was signed by its regional director Mikhail Potapkin. This is Anna Bogacheva’s business partner, the alleged employee of the Troll Factory, who is also associated with Prigozhin. Bogacheva became one of Robert Muller’s investigation about Russia's intervention in the American elections and fell under US sanctions. Together with Potepkin, since 2014, she has owns the ITE Debagger company.
• The representative of Prigozhin did not answer the request of The Bell.

The material was first published in the newsletter of The Bell. You can subscribe to it here

Intelligence with a fight

This year, not only geologists, but also fighters of the PMC Wagner, who are also associated with the name of Evgeny Prigozhin, went to Sudan. This was the first to report this by the Russian BBC Service.

In February, Bashir stated that Sudan’s combat effectiveness program has been operating between Moscow and Khartum, designed to reflect external threats, including from the United States, which Sudan President accused of destabilizing the situation in the region during negotiations with Putin. Sudan gained independence in 1956, and since then the civil war has practically not stopped in the country. In 2011, South Sudan was separated and was recognized as an independent state, but clashes with the central authorities did not stop.

Prigozhin’s mercenaries are now trained by military units of the Sudan government, four interlocutors of The Bell, including competing structures, say. One of them clarified that the number of contingent exceeds a hundred people. Whether they are engaged in the protection of the sites that MA investment, and civilian specialists who arrived from Russia, could not be found out - it was not possible to find out. But such a scheme for the work of Prigozhin’s structure has already been tested in Syria.

Oil exchange

Since 2016, Syria has also been present for Wagner PMC fighters. Around the same, according to Fontanka’s information , the Europolis company, which is associated with Prigozhin, concluded a framework agreement with the government of Bashar al -Assad, according to which it claimed a quarter of the total volume of oil and gas, obtained at the deposits conquered with the participation of PMCs. RBC, with reference to the source close to Prigogine, wrote that he really hoped to start making money in Syrian oil and regarded this as dividends from conducting military operations.

According to The Bell, the Europolis signed agreements on work in Syria shortly before the February military clash in the Dair-Ez-Zor province. Kommersant, citing a Russian military source, wrote that the cause of the incident was allegedly an attempt by Syrian “large entrepreneurs who currently support Bashar al -Assad” to seize oil and gas fields under the control of the Kurds - the US allies. As a result of the collision, according to various sources, the fighters of the PMC of Wagner died from a dozen to more than two hundred people.

The key to Africa

“We can say that Sudan can be such a key of Russia for Africa,” Bashir said at the November meeting with Putin. The activity of the structures of Evgeny Prigozhin is really noticeable in other countries on the continent.

• In Madagascar, South Africa and Kenya, Russian political scientists conduct sociological research, wrote in April Kommersant. According to the publication, Prigozhin also finances it, and coordinates - political scientist Yaroslav Ignatovsky.
• This year, Madagascar should choose a new president and parliament this year, in South Africa - in the next. “But it is understood that the project is long -term, for about two years. The situation in Africa countries is unstable, the elections can be appointed unexpectedly, ”the source of the publication, familiar with the project, explained.
• In addition, Wagner PMC employees train the Armed Forces of the Central African Republic, says one of the sources of The Bell. In the spring of this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially stated , then 170 civilian instructors “for the training of tsar military personnel” will be sent to the TsA.
• In addition to “M Invest”, the structure of Kush for Exploration & Production Co.ltd is engaged in gold mining in Sudan. - In November, she received new concessions in the country. Until 2016, it was controlled by Gazprombank. Since 2013, she invested in reconnaissance and development of deposits in Sudan about $ 80 million, and its total extraction amount of production amounted to about 2.5 tons of gold, one of the interlocutor of The Bell said. In addition to gold mining, Kush was engaged in Sudan and educational activities - for example, in 2013, in the presence of Sergei Lavrov, the company opened in Khartoum the Center for the Study of the Russian Language named after A.S. Pushkin. Who is now controlled by this company is unknown . Gazprombank, which had 17%left in it, did not answer the request of The Bell. Evgeny Alexandrov, Director of Kush for Exploration & Production Co.ltd .
• Businessman Konstantin Malofeev, who actively helped New Russia, was also interested in gold gold in Sudan, three interlocutors of The Bell say. He even personally came to Sudan, but did not invest yet (Malofeev himself refused to talk with The Bell).
• And Prigozhin, and Malofeev, and Gazprombank are under US sanctions.

Anastasia Yakreva