US declares Wagner PMC criminal organization
The Wagner PMC is headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin (far left), who is a friend of Vladimir Putin (Photo:REUTERS/Misha Japaridze/Pool/File Photo)
The United States has designated Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary company as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and expanded sanctions against it, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Jan. 26.
According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the new sanctions will further damage Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's ability to support the Russian army.
"As sanctions and export controls on Russia form our international coalition continue to bite, the Kremlin is desperately searching for arms and support — including through the brutal Wagner Group,” Yellen said in a statement about the measures.
“Today's expanded sanctions on Wagner, as well as new sanctions on their associates and other companies enabling the Russian military complex, will further impede Putin's ability to arm and equip his war machine.”
The Wagner Group, headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, is involved in Kremlin-backed military operations not only in Ukraine but around the world, the U.S. Treasury Department emphasized.
Prigozhin is nicknamed “Putin's chef” as his companies are known to provide catering services for the Kremlin.
The agency pointed out that the paramilitary firm is responsible for attacks, violence, kidnapping and forced displacement of people, attacks on schools, hospitals, places of worship or places where civilians seek refuge.
According to British intelligence, Wagner PMC has engaged 50,000 mercenaries in the war against Ukraine.
White House spokesman John Kirby said that 10,000 of these are contractors, while the rest are convicts recruited in Russian prisons.
He also noted that Prigozhin spends more than $100 million a month on financing the operations of Wagner Group in Ukraine.
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