In February 2023, Diamville became the subject of a set of economic sanctions imposed by the
European Council against various people and organizations affiliated with the Wagner Group. The company had sanctions imposed by the United States in July 2023.
Ownership
Diamville is a Central African Republic based, Russian owned, diamond and gold trading company.[2][1] The official registered owner of the company is Central African Bienvenu Patrick Setem Bonguende, who works as a driver for Dimitri Sytyi, a senior executive at the Russian private military company
Wagner Group.[3] According to a 2022 joint investigation and report from
European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), the French organization All Eyes on Wagner, and the UK-based Dossier Center, Diamville is a shell company owned by Russian militia
Wagner Group.[4]Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner Group, dismissed the report as "Western propaganda" and sarcastically[5] claimed that
Emmanuel Macron was the owner of Diamville.[6]De Standaard newspaper also reported that "five sources from the diamond sector in
Bangui" confirmed Diamville is a Wagner Group
front organization.[7][8]
History and activities
De Standard reported that Diamville was founded in 2019 and exported €132,000 of diamonds from Central African Republic to Belgium in November 2019.[7][9] The EIC report claimed that in total 1,000 carats of diamonds worth US$12 million were exported from Central African Republic between 2019 and 2021.[3]
In late February 2023, the
European Council imposed sanctions against "individuals and entities linked to the
Wagner Group" including Diamville for "their role in illegally trading gold and diamonds looted by force from local traders."[10][11][12] Other affiliated companies included Lobaye Invest Sarlu in Central African Republic and Meroe Gold and M-Invest in Sudan.[11] The United States imposed sanctions against Diamville on June 27, 2023, in the aftermath of the Wagner Group rebellion. Sanctions against the Wagner Group affiliated Midas Ressources were imposed at the same time.[13]
^"Una investigación internacional revela que el Grupo Wagner saquea y exporta diamantes centroafricanos a Europa." La Nación, 2 Dec. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A728858039/ITOF?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=fc37a001. Accessed 14 Dec. 2022.