UK to designate Wagner Group as terrorist organization – JURIST

The UK government announced Wednesday that they would designate the Wagner Group, a mercenary group known for their involvement in the war in Ukraine, as a terrorist organization. As a result of the designation, it will be illegal for anyone within the UK for anyone to be a member of or support the Wagner Group. The bill was presented in Parliament on Wednesday.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a statement, “Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin’s Russia overseas.” She continued, “They are terrorists, plain and simple.” Braverman then pointed to reports of looting, torture and murders at the hands of member of the Wagner Group in areas such as Ukraine.

The move follows a July 26 report from the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee that called for the UK government to designate the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization. The committee released the report shortly after Wagner Group members stopped short of marching on Moscow, Russia. The report urged, “The UK Government [to] seize this opportunity to deter countries and individuals from engaging with the Wagner Network, and to marshal Government efforts to monitor and assess the ambitions and impacts of Private Military Companies (PMCs).”

The main UK opposition party, the Labour Party, also called for the government to designate the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization in February.

The Wagner Group is a PMC that has gained attention for its involvement in conflicts, particularly in several African nations, Syria and Ukraine. While it is officially a private organization, there is evidence to suggest that it has close ties to the Russian government and operates as a proxy force for Russian interests. That said, the Russian government has never formally acknowledged the Wagner Group’s affiliation with the state.

On August 23, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash in Russia’s Tver region. He died only months after the Wagner Group marched towards Moscow. Though Kremlin officials announced Russia would not pursue criminal charges against Prigozhin, US officials believe that the Kremlin was somehow responsible for the August 23 plane crash.

Two days after Prigozhin died, the Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an executive order ordering military units to swear an oath of allegiance to the Russian state. The oath, contained within the order, requires individuals to “strictly follow the orders of commanders and superiors.” Under Article 87 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the President is the “supreme commander-in-chief of the armed forces.”

Once the designation passes through Parliament, they will become effective as of September 13. The Wagner Group will become the 79th organization to be designated as a terrorist organization by the UK.