The United Kingdom will add the Russian paramilitary group Wagner to its list of terrorist organizations, the Daily Mail said on Tuesday (September 5th), quoting Home Secretary Suella Braverman. “Wagner is a violent and destructive organization that acted as an overseas military tool for Vladimir Putin’s Russia,” Suella Braverman said, according to the British daily.
“While Putin’s regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner’s persistent destabilizing activities only continue to serve the Kremlin’s political goals,” she added.
The UK Home Secretary has the power to “outlaw” an organization she believes is involved in acts of terrorism. This “proscription”, which already applies to the Islamic State group and the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda among others, makes it a criminal offense to support the organization in question.
“Wagner was implicated in looting, torture and barbaric murder,” Suella Braverman continued in the Daily Mail. “That’s why we outlaw this terrorist organization and we continue to help Ukraine as much as possible in its fight against Russia,” added the minister, saying that Wagner is also “a threat to global security”.
These measures to classify Wagner as a terrorist organization will be presented to Parliament on Wednesday, British media report. In July, London had already announced sanctions against 13 Wagner-linked individuals and organizations in Africa, charging them with war crimes.
