"Wagner group" bought 20 thousand military helmets from China to circumvent sanctions - FT

Companies associated with the founder of the Wagner mercenary group continue to successfully circumvent Western sanctions. In particular, Wagner's shell company purchased tens of thousands of protective helmets from China at the end of last year, while Prigozhin was gathering an army of prisoners to fight in Ukraine.

Source. This is stated in the Financial Times investigation.

A Russian company, Broker Expert, linked to Wagner, bought 20,000 polymer-based helmets from a small Chinese company, Hangzhou Shinerain Import And Export Co, in November and December last year.

The Chinese company claims that they are intended for "gaming use."

The Financial Times also found out that Broker Expert supplied power generators, welding electrodes, and refractory materials to a company controlled by Prigozhin that was engaged in deforestation in the Central African Republic (CAR) in August 2022. Broker Expert is not yet on the sanctions lists of any Western country.

Prigozhin commented on the FT investigation, saying that he had never heard the names of these companies and offered to send a bag with his dirty laundry.

In addition, the Financial Times found that the companies used by Prigozhin to support operations in Africa continued to freely export and import goods through international markets, despite the huge number of Western sanctions against the Wagner Group, which has been recognized as a "transnational criminal organization."

Earlier it was reported that Bois Rouge, a logging company controlled by Wagner, changed its name to Wood International Group (WIG) and transports timber from Africa to the EU via Cameroon.

Prigozhin is under US sanctions. In 2021, the FBI added him to the list of most wanted criminals, but he continues to earn hundreds of millions of dollars from mining. For example, the Euro Policy company associated with him received a concession in the Syrian energy sector from the government of Bashar al-Assad in exchange for the services of Wagner's mercenaries: the mercenaries liberated several oil fields seized by ISIS. Business structures associated with Prigozhin also continue to operate in Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The U.S. Treasury Department has declared the Wagner PMC a transnational criminal organization involved in criminal acts, including mass executions, rape, child abduction, and physical abuse.