Ukraine’s parliament on Feb. 6 recognized Russian mercenary group Wagner as an international criminal organization and called on foreign governments to do the same.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Jan. 26 designated Wagner Group mercenaries as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and imposed sanctions on its support network worldwide.
“Wagner personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity, including mass executions, rape, child abductions, and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali,” the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions announced by the Treasury Department on Jan. 26 target “six individuals and 12 entities” connected to Russia’s defense industry, along with allies and family members of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
The Wagner Group, Russia’s most high-profile mercenary group, was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and confidant of Putin.
It has been accused of human rights abuses in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mozambique, including torture and extrajudicial killings.
