“In an attempt to strengthen Russia against more and more tough Western sanctions and support military operations in Ukraine” Moscow secretly exports its most valuable resource – gold from Sudan. Most often, export is masked for other products, for example, cookies. This was reported in the investigation of the American media company CNN.
Former and current American officials told reporters that Russia “supported a military coup” in Sudan in 2021, which overthrew the transitional civil government and strengthened the power of the military. In exchange for the support of Moscow, the current authorities allow to freely take the gold bypassing the established rules, depriving the “poor country of hundreds of millions of dollars of state revenues,” the investigation is claimed.
CNN claims that businessman Evgeny Prigozhin plays an important role in the cooperation of Moscow and Hartum. In Sudan, the main instrument of a Russian entrepreneur under international sanctions is “is the company Meroe Gold – a subsidiary of the M -Invest company belonging to Prigogine, the investigation is indicated.
Meroe Gold “mines gold and at the same time provides weapons and training of the army and militarized formations of the country, according to the accounts that CNN,” reports.
According to CNN, over the past year and a half, at least 16 aircraft with gold have been sent from Sudan to Russia. Flights were carried out by “military aircraft that followed the Syrian port city of Latakia, where Russia has a large air base.” In addition, there is a ground route along which gold is transported to the Central African Republic.