The US has designated the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, a community of personal safety contractors which have taken up arms in Ukraine, as a “important transnational prison group,” the Treasury introduced on Thursday.
U.S. to model Russia’s Wagner Group a ‘transnational prison’ entity
“As we speak’s expanded sanctions on Wagner, in addition to new sanctions on their associates and different corporations enabling the Russian navy advanced, will additional impede Putin’s skill to arm and equip his warfare machine,” Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen stated in a press release.
The Treasury famous that Wagner had been accused of “mass executions, rape, little one abductions, and bodily abuse within the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali,” and positioned sanctions on numerous organizations the division stated supplied help for the group, together with a Chinese language satellite tv for pc imagery firm and an aviation agency based mostly within the United Arab Emirates.
The US estimates that some 50,000 Wagner fighters have deployed to Ukraine, the vast majority of whom have been recruited from inside Russian prisons. Even its founder, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a detailed ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not too long ago joined his ranks on the entrance strains within the east.
However the group’s rising presence on the battlefield has additionally irked Russian navy leaders who’ve both ignored or dismissed Prigozhin’s claims of victory. Lately, the group has served primarily as a tactical software of Moscow in locations the place Russia has political or monetary pursuits, corresponding to Syria.
Listed here are some info concerning the Wagner Group and what it’s doing in Ukraine.
