US Designates Russia’s Wagner Group A Transnational Criminal Entity

By Staff, Agencies

The United States on Friday designated Russia's Wagner Group a "transnational criminal organization" – raising pressure on the private Russian paramilitary force in Ukraine.

Wagner "is a criminal organization that is continuing to commit widespread atrocities and human rights abuses," White House "National Security" spokesman John Kirby said, noting that the mercenary group had some “50,000" fighters deployed in Ukraine.

The group apparently has an “active role” in the ongoing military operation in Ukraine and is said to have operations in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. With ties to Russia’s Defense Ministry, it has been accused of allegedly committing war crimes in these countries.

Kirby showed US intelligence photographs of North Korea allegedly supplying arms to Wagner for its Ukraine operations, and said the private army has become a rival to the formal Russian military. The designation puts Wagner in league with Italian mafia groups and Japanese and Russian organized crime, and will allow the wider application of sanctions on the group’s sprawling global network.

In September 2022, the United Kingdom launched an inquiry into the use of private military companies [PMCs] – particularly the Wagner Group – as proxies. The probe was meant to identify the unique challenges posed by countries’ use of PMCs in conflicts and to destabilize “fragile countries.”

“Private military companies can operate as legal enablers of legitimate activity or in the shadows, blurring the lines between legal and illegal activities,” Tom Tugendhat, chair of the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, had said at the time. “Some of these private military companies, such as the Wagner Group, engage in ruthless mercenary activities at the behest of states like Russia, profiting through bloodshed and taking an active role in Ukraine and other countries.”

In March, it was reported that mercenaries of the Russian PMC deployed in eastern Ukraine to "undertake combat operations" as part of Moscow's ongoing operation. Months later, a senior US military official claimed that Wagner was recruiting over 1,500 convicted felons to partake in Russia’s military campaign.