Monitoring Desk
MOSCOW: The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner on Saturday published a short letter to the White House asking what crime the company was accused of after the United States (US) announced new sanctions on the group.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said that Wagner would be designated a significant Transnational Criminal Organization.
A letter in English addressed to John Kirby and posted on the Telegram channel of the company’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin’s press service read: “Dear Mr John Kirby, Could you please clarify what crime PMC Wagner has committed?”
John Kirby called Wagner “a criminal organization that is committing widespread cruelties and human rights abuses.”
White House imposes new sanctions on Wagner group
The White House last month said the Wagner group had taken delivery of an arms consignment from North Korea to support Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Foreign Ministry of North Korea called the report groundless, and Prigozhin denied taking such delivery at the time, calling the report “speculation and gossip.”
Washington had already imposed sanctions on trade with Wagner in 2017 and again in December to restrict its access to weaponry.
The European Union (EU) imposed its own sanctions in December 2021 on the Wagner group, which has been active in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mozambique, and Mali.
Prigozhin has described Wagner as a completely independent force with its own artillery, aircraft, tanks, and rockets.
He is wanted in the US for interference in US elections, which he said in November last year he had done and would continue to do so in the future.
