US designates Russia's Wagner Group as a criminal organization

 

• New sanctions will be imposed next week against the group, which the US now believes has about 50,000 personnel stationed in Ukraine

The Biden administration designated Russia's Wagner Group an transnational criminal organization in a new effort to blunt the mercenary company's powerful role on battlefields in Ukraine and around the world.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said new sanctions would be imposed next week against the group, which the US now believes has about 50,000 personnel stationed in Ukraine. The Treasury Department designation would give the administration new powers to impose financial sanctions on Wagner and those who work for him.

"These actions recognize the trans-continental threat of Wagner," Kirby said at a briefing on Friday. Violation of rights."

The move marked the latest attempt to disrupt the group, which has continued to gain prominence and power around the world despite sanctions from the US, Britain and the European Union. The group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is considered a key ally and supporter of President Vladimir Putin and his war effort in Ukraine.

Administration officials debated labeling Wagner as a foreign terrorist organization, but have so far withheld that designation, despite urging from some members of Congress.

Kirby said the US is seeing signs of escalating tensions between Wagner and Russia's Defense Ministry. He said Wagner is "becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries," even as President Vladimir Putin is increasingly turning to the group for support.

Russian state television has highlighted the group's role in Ukraine. In September, a video surfaced of a man who closely resembles Prigozhin offering early release for prisoners who had fought for six months at the front in Ukraine.

At the same briefing, Kirby said the US has evidence that Wagner has been receiving North Korean munitions and equipment in support of the war effort in Ukraine.

Kirby said, "While the amount of material delivered will not change the dynamics of the battlefield in Ukraine, allies are concerned that North Korea may be delivering further military equipment." between Russia and North Korea.