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Sanctions on Mali's defence minister over Wagner
Summary
A look back at US measures against three senior Malian officials, set against EU sanctions on a Russian prison director days earlier.
What did Washington do on 24 July 2023 about the Wagner Group's presence in Mali? The United States announced sanctions on three senior Malian officials, among them Defence Minister Sadio Camara. The stated reason was that they had allegedly "helped to facilitate" the presence of the Russian paramilitary group in the country.
The measures targeted individuals holding senior positions in Mali, rather than Russian entities, and named the Wagner Group's presence on Malian soil as the basis for action.
A separate move in Europe
A few days earlier, on 20 July 2023, the European Union imposed sanctions on the director of the Russian prison where opposition leader Alexei Navalny was being held. That step concerned the treatment of a jailed Russian opposition figure and was separate from the Mali decision.
Taken together, the two announcements showed Western governments using targeted sanctions on named individuals in the same week, one aimed at officials in Mali over Wagner and the other at a prison official in Russia.
