According to media reports, Britain wants to add the Russian mercenary group Wagner to its list of terrorist organizations. The Chron newspaper, citing Home Secretary Suella Braverman, reported that the United Kingdom wanted to ban the Wagner group based on anti-terrorism laws. The project is expected to be presented in parliament today.
If terrorist activities are suspected, the British Home Secretary can ban an organization. This ban already applies to the Islamic State jihadist militia and the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Supporting banned organizations becomes a crime.
“Brutal and destructive organization”
Wagner is “a brutal and destructive organization that operates abroad as a military tool of (Russian President) Vladimir Putin,” the Chron quoted the Interior Minister as saying. “While the Putin regime decides what to do with the monster it has created, Wagner’s ongoing destabilizing activities continue to serve the Kremlin’s political purposes,” Braverman said, according to the report.
The Wagner group was “involved in looting, torture and barbaric murders,” Braverman said, according to the Chron. The group’s actions in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa represent a “threat to global security”, he added. This is why London will ban “this terrorist organization” and continue to support Ukraine “wherever we can in its fight against Russia”.