France, UK to label Wagner group terrorists

The lower house of the French parliament – the National Assembly – unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday calling on France and the European Union to include Russia’s private military group Wagner on the list of terrorist organizations.

The resolution also invites the French government to intensify the fight against the leaders, members and supporters of the group; support the international initiatives to investigate the multiple abuses committed by the group against civilian populations, particularly in Ukraine and Africa; and urge other U.N. member states to register the group as a terrorist organization.

Across La Manche, Britain is about to blacklist the group as terrorists, giving the Wagner mercenaries the same status as Isis and al-Qaeda, according to The Times.

The newspaper quoted a source in the U.K. government as saying the move was “imminent” and likely to be enacted within weeks, following two months spent building a legal case.

Earlier, the Wagner group was recognized as a terrorist organization by the parliaments of Estonia and Lithuania and Canada’s House of Commons. The U.S. Department of State and Department of the Treasury designated it as a “significant transnational criminal organization.”

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the Wagner group as an international criminal organization on Feb. 6, 2003.