The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury has designated eight individuals and seven entities pursuant to Executive Orders 13848, 13694, as amended, and 13661, for facilitating the efforts of Yevgeniy Prigozhin to advance the influence of Russia in the Central African Republic, for supporting the Russian Federal Security Service, and for helping designated persons to evade US sanctions.
Prigozhin was designated by OFAC in July 2020 for his involvement in destabilizing Ukraine, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Mozambique. According to OFAC, Prigozhin is a major financier of a Russian “troll farm,” the Internet Research Agency, which was designated in 2018.
The individuals and entities are also designated for supporting the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and for assisting Russian individuals and entities to evade US sanctions. The FSB was designated in December 2016 pursuant to Executive Order 13694, as amended, for its role in the Russian government’s attempted interference in the US elections process, and in March 2018 pursuant to Section 224 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
The designated entities include:
• companies controlled by Prigozhin that are engaged in precious minerals mining in the CAR;
• individuals employed by Prigozhin and his companies;
• entities that collaborate with the FSB;
• companies that help violate US sanctions, and;
• officials in those companies
Pursuant to these sanctions, US property belonging to the fifteen designated individuals and entities is blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Likewise, non-US persons who engage in certain transactions with these designated persons may be exposed to sanctions.