The US designated Russia’s Wagner Group as an “international criminal organization”.

Washington:

The United States designated Russia’s Wagner Group as a “traditional criminal organization” on Friday, increasing pressure on the private Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, has about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, 80 percent of whom came from prisons.

Kirby shows Wagner U.S. intelligence photos of North Korea supplying weapons for Ukraine operations, and says that the private army has become a rival to the formal Russian military.

He said photographs from November 18-19 showed Russian rail cars entering North Korea, loading infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia.

He added that the US Treasury was formally designating Wagner as an international criminal organization, putting it in league with Italian mafia groups and Japanese and Russian organized crime.

The designation will allow a wider application of the sanctions to the group’s vast global network, which includes mercenary operations as well as businesses in Africa and elsewhere.

Wagner is “a criminal organization perpetrating widespread atrocities and human rights abuses,” Kirby said.

“We will work relentlessly to identify, disrupt, expose and target those who aided Wagner,” he said.

Kirby also stated that the United States had presented its intelligence on the North Korean purchase of Wagner to the United Nations Security Council’s unit on sanctions against North Korea.

Kirby said the arms transfer from North Korea is in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Kirby said there is evidence that Prigozhin’s confidence in the relative success of Wagner fighters in Ukraine has caused tension in the Kremlin.

Kirby said, “Wagner is becoming a rival power center for the Russian military and other Russian ministries.”

“Prigozhin is trying to advance his own interest in Ukraine and Wagner is making military decisions based largely on what it will generate for Prigozhin in terms of positive publicity.”

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