The United States is expected to delay its new sanctions on the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Africa after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a rebellion against the Kremlin, out of concerns that sanctioning the mercenary would end up helping Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials close to the situation said Saturday.

"Washington does not want to appear to be taking sides in this," one of the sources, who was not named, commented to The Wall Street Journal.

Cameron Hudson, a former chief of staff to the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, commented to the publication that while "Washington has had a strategy in place to target, isolate, and weaken Wagner's growth in Africa, continuing that approach now potentially puts Washington in the difficult position of assisting Putin."

The State Department had been planning to announce a new set of sanctions Tuesday on the mercenary group's gold business in Africa, which includes a mining operation in the Central African Republic, the Wall Street Journal's sources said. 

Wagner is led by Prigozhin, a former cook for Putin. Saturday, he led his troops out of Ukraine and into a key city south of Moscow, which the Russian leader declared was a "stab in the back."

Prigozhin's forces also have a foothold in Mali, Libya and Sudan, providing its military assistance to allow it access to those countries' natural resources.

Wagner has already been sanctioned for having a role in disinformation campaigns, including the U.S. presidential election in 2016, and for its role in fighting in Ukraine, but the latest sanctions were a crackdown on the group's international empire. 

The Treasury and State departments did not return requests for comment.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in May issued sanctions against Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, the head of the Wagner group's paramilitary units in Mali, noting that Wagner and Prigozhin are already sanctioned under multiple authorities, including for its support of Russia's war against Ukraine.

According to the sanction notice for Mali, "The Wagner Group may be attempting to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by working through Mali and other countries where it has a foothold. The United States opposes efforts by any country to assist Russia through the Wagner Group."

• Russia's Putin Has Reportedly Fled in 'Doomsday' Plane
• Russia Will Not Let Mutiny Turn into Coup - Medvedev