Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: The United States (US) has designated Russia’s Wagner group as a “transnational criminal organisation,” piling pressure on the private Russian military fighting in Ukraine.
John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, said that Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, 80 per cent of them drawn from prisons.
Criminal organisation
At a press conference, Kirby showed United States intelligence photographs of North Korea supplying weapons to Wagner for its Ukraine operations and said that the private military had become a rival to the formal Russian army.
He said that the images from November 18-19, 2022 show Russian rail entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and advanced missiles, and returning to Russia.
He said that the United States Treasury formally designated Wagner as the transnational criminal organisation, putting it in league with Italian mafia group and Russian and Japanese organized crime.
The designation could allow the broader application of sanctions on the group’s sprawling international network, which includes mercenary operations and businesses in Africa and other countries.
Kirby said that Wagner is a criminal organisation committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses.
He said that we could work relentlessly to identify, disrupt, expose, focus and target those who are assisting Wagner.
Kirby said that the US had presented its intelligence on Wagner’s North Korean purchase to the UN Security Council’s unit on North Korea sanctions.
Kirby said that arms transfers from North Korea directly violate United Nations Security Council resolutions.
