Russian mercenary group Wagner – the band behind a failed coup in Russia earlier this year – is set to be declared a terrorist organisation.
The Home Office confirmed a draft proscription order will be laid against the "violent and destructive" organisation in Parliament today following it's prominent role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is also known for operating in Syria and in a string of African countries, including Sudan, Libya and Mali.
The order will make it illegal to be a member of or support Wagner Group, and allow its assets to be seized. Certain proscription offences can be punishable by up to 14 years in prison or a £5,000 fine. Proscription of the group comes after consideration of the nature and scale of the organisation's activities as well as the threat they pose to British nationals abroad, the Home Office added. The Wagner Group will now be added to the list of other proscribed organisations in the UK such as Hamas and Boko Haram.
Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin mounted an abortive coup against Putin and later died in a suspicious plane crash (AP)Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: "Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin's Russia overseas. While Putin's regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals.
"They are terrorists, plain and simple - and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law. Wagner has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders. Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security. That is why we are proscribing this terrorist organisation and continuing to aid Ukraine wherever we can in its fight against Russia."
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Newly appointed Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said using insignia or logos belonging to Wagner would be banned. He told LBC: "We've seen how Wagner operate. Obviously we've seen the devastating impact they've had or tried to have in Ukraine, but they also operate in Africa or across the Sahel. And we do not want to see that organisation here. Prescribing them means that becomes illegal once Parliament passes it."
It comes after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a suspicious plane crash last month - two months after he led an abortive coup against the Kremlin. The short-lived armed rebellion against Russia's military leadership posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin's authority in his 23-year rule.
The Government has been under pressure to proscribe Wagner for months. Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy tweeted: "Labour called for the proscription of the Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation in February. This is long overdue, but it’s welcome the government has finally acted. Now the Government should press for a Special Tribunal to prosecute Putin for his crime of aggression."
Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said it was "deeply disappointing" the Government had failed to act sooner. "The government took so long to get their act together that the leader of the Wagner Group is now dead and its power is seemingly waning," she said. "With Ministers now accepting that Wagner should be treated as a terrorist organisation, they must assure us that their delay in doing so has not caused any danger to British citizens, or our allies, including Ukrainians, during that time."
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