KHARTOUM: A network of Russian and Sudanese military leaders are colluding to plunder the African nation’s gold reserves and production, enabling Moscow to fund its ongoing war in Ukraine amidst increasingly severe Western sanctions, a CNN report published recently has claimed. The CNN report claims that the scheme is the result of an agreement with Sudan’s increasingly unpopular military leadership in exchange for Russia’s military support to suppress the country’s pro-democracy movement. The CNN report claims that Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and key ally of President Vladimir Putin, is at the heart of this pact between Moscow and Khartoum’s military junta. In 2021, the European Union sanctioned Kuznetsov for Wagner Group activities that it claimed endangered Libya’s peace, stability, and security. “We will continue to make clear our concerns to Sudanese military officials about the malign impact of Wagner, Meroe Gold, and other actors.”

Source: CNN August 14, 2022 18:15 UTC