The EU must prepare to confront Vladimir Putin’s war machine alone. That is the grim reality that member states and Brussels are facing.
As well as the brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s assault on Europe is also taking the form of cyber attacks on our critical infrastructure, deep sea sabotage, and spreading disinformation across our political systems.
The only acceptable response is for the EU to confront Russia on every single plane of action. The alternative is to expose a chink in our armor, which Moscow will assuredly exploit.
We have already allowed this to happen in Africa, and the costs to our security, as well as to millions of Africans, have been steep.
Left unchecked by both the United States and Europe, Putin’s henchmen have wreaked havoc in the Sahel and across central Africa. Democracies have been toppled, populations displaced (sending millions north to our borders, just as Russia planned), and resources plundered.
At the heart of this ruthless strategy is gold.
The Blood Gold Report, published in December 2023, provided unprecedented detail on how Russian mercenaries are providing deadly ‘security services’ to autocrats and warlords in return for gold-backed payments in the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, and Mali.
By the time of the report’s publication, Russia had already laundered a staggering 2 billion euros in "blood gold" since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That figure has only climbed since.
In the CAR and Sudan, Russian mercenaries directly operate major gold mines and refineries, earning enormous profits limited only by their industrial efficiency and ability to launder those profits from the African continent - although the Sudanese civil war has created difficulties for Russian gold operations.
In Mali, the Wagner Group - the infamous mercenary outfit - alighted on a different arrangement: a $10 million monthly cash retainer from the Russia-backed military junta. Meanwhile, just four Western mining companies - Barrick Gold Corporation, B2Gold, Resolute Mining, and Allied Gold Corporation - have provided more than half of the junta's annual tax revenue in recent years.
Over the past 18 months, the Malian junta - which is as reliant on industrial mining for its revenues as it is on Russian mercenaries for its security - has squeezed these mining companies for even more funds.
Russian "security services" in Mali, funded by gold profits, are at the center of a system of extreme violence. Russian mercenaries have been implicated in rapes, murders, and myriad other atrocities directed against Malian civilians.
After Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder and director of the Wagner Group, was killed in August 2023 when his plane exploded north of Moscow, a large part of Wagner was rebranded as the Africa Corps and officially absorbed into the Russian State’s vertically integrated military infrastructure. Since then, the mercenary group’s brutal operations in Mali have only intensified.
Russia’s blood gold system is not just an African tragedy; it’s a direct security threat to Europe. Blood gold profits dilute the power of Western sanctions to disrupt Moscow’s war economy and undermine Europe’s support to Kyiv.
Russia's African foothold also creates new military threats for Europe. From the proliferation of military bases and training facilities across the Sahel to attempting to procure weapons through Mali for use in Ukraine, Moscow has treated Africa as a sanctions-proof war chest.
This strategy shows no signs of faltering. In the past 12 months, Putin has cut deals with authoritarian regimes in Burkina Faso and Niger, exchanging "security services" for money and minerals, further entrenching Russian influence into Africa. The propaganda activities previously executed by Wagner in Africa have been spun off into a dedicated disinformation unit, the African Initiative, which manages a broad network of platforms promoting pro-Russian, anti-Western narratives across Africa from offices in Burkina Faso and Mali.
By destabilizing political systems, exacerbating ethnic tensions, and undermining international development efforts, Russia helps create conditions that drive displacement.
Western intelligence reports indicate this may be precisely what Putin intends. By driving migration crises, Russia aims to inflame European populist sentiment, deepen political divisions, and weaken EU unity.
The EU must act decisively and with the single-minded ferocity that the situation demands.
It must start by taking a more strategic and comprehensive approach to Russian mercenary operations in Africa.
To date, Western allies have largely sought to counter Russian mercenaries by targeting their operatives and entities directly with primary financial sanctions.
This approach has failed.
Sanctioned mercenaries are simply cycled out of one theatre of operations and into another, while sanctioned companies are dissolved and replaced by new ones. This strategy has also failed as a deterrent to those who work with Russian mercenaries.
Imposing secondary sanctions on Wagner's business partners must become Brussels’s operating principle. This new strategy must apply to sovereign as well as private actors. Commercial traders in CAR and the junta in Mali must all understand that working with Russian mercenaries means being treated as mercenaries. This will have an immediate knock-on effect on Western corporations that continue to work with the business partners of Russian mercenaries, with the full knowledge that the proceeds of their commercial partnerships are ending up in Putin’s pocket.
Russia's strategy in Africa represents a coordinated campaign to destabilize Europe while securing economic and geopolitical gains. The blood gold trade funds not just military aggression but also sophisticated information warfare designed to fragment European unity. For the EU, the response must be clear: an unwavering commitment to countering Putin's aggression, both within its borders and beyond.
Africa's struggles are not distant—they are integral to Europe's security and stability. By addressing the Russian threat in Africa, Europe defends not just its values but also its fundamental security interests.
Zoltán Kész is a former member of the Hungarian Parliament who now works for Consumer Choice Center as the Government Affairs Manager.
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