Washington declares Russian paramilitary group Wagner an international criminal organization

First modification: 21/01/2023 – 14:55

Wagner “is a criminal organization that continues to commit widespread atrocities and human rights abuses,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in announcing Washington’s decision on Friday to classify the Russian paramilitary group as a “criminal organization.” international”. Kirby warned that his country “work tirelessly to identify, expose and locate all those who assist Wagner”.

Created in 2014 by Evguéni Prigojine, an adviser and man very close to Vladimir Putin, the paramilitary group has become infamous for the exactions of its members, mercenaries, but also thousands of former prisoners of the common order enrolled in exchange for the “reduction of sorrows”, who fight in Ukraine, but are also present in several African countries.

According to Washington, Wagner currently has some 50,000 members deployed in Ukraine, of which 10,000 are mercenaries and 40,000 prisoners. Recently, Andrei Medvedev, who claims to have been part of the paramilitary group as a commander, fled to Norway where he asked for asylum and offered to provide information on the operation of the organization.

Wagner does not have legal personality, “it is not an administrative entity,” says Peer de Jong, a former colonel of French navy troops, interviewed by RFI. The organization’s activities unfold on several fronts: “security, military activities, communication and training in misinformation, search and exploitation of natural resources”, adds the also Vice-president of the Therniis Institute.

In April 2022, the Wagner paramilitary group was present in Butcha, near kyiv, where dozens of civilians were massacred. The massacre is classified as a war crime. Wagner is also known for acts of violence committed in Syria and also in Mali.

The classification as “international criminal organization” puts the paramilitary group on the same level as the Mafia, or the yakuzas in Japan. Although Wagner’s classification as a criminal group is important, it does not have the same meaning or importance as if it had been classified as a “terrorist “

Currently, Wagner participates in the bloody combats in Bakhmut, a small city located in Donetsk, in the east, which has become a nerve center for the Russians who continue to seek to take it over.

The actions of the paramilitary group, the furious criticism that Prigojine has launched on various occasions against the Russian troops and the Minister of Defense have caused strong tensions within the armed forces. However, Moscow denies any tension between the Kremlin and Putin’s close man.