The motion for a resolution, which will be considered by the National Assembly on Tuesday, aims to add the paramilitary organization to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 09/05/2023 at 04:50, updated 09/05/2023 at 07:35
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Renaissance MP Benjamin Haddad is behind the resolution. JOEL SAGET
The National Assembly is due to vote on Tuesday, May 9, on a text requesting registration of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, accused of abuses in Ukraine and Africa, on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations. The non-binding motion, tabled by Renaissance MP Benjamin Haddad, specifically targets the “many atrocities against the civilian population” in Ukraine committed by this group of mercenaries, some of which could qualify as “war crimes”.
The text, which will be debated in the afternoon, was co-signed by MPs from the various majority factions, but also by elected representatives from the ranks of the Socialists, environmentalists and LR, which predicts a positive vote in the plenary hall. “It’s about sending a political, symbolic message, a signal of denunciation of Wagner and his activities – which are deliberately directed against civilians for political gain – such as terrorism,” argues Benjamin Haddad.
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In particular, the text quotes the German secret services, according to which Wagner was involved in the summary executions, mutilations and torture of the civilian population of the Ukrainian town of Boutcha.” In addition to Ukraine, the resolution also identifies abuses in Syria and in several African countries such as Mali or Central Africa republic festival. In mid-March, the Lithuanian parliament already passed a resolution stating: “Wagner is a terrorist organization”, to which Kiev thanked him. For its part, the EU in April included Wagner in its list of people and organizations sanctioned for “actively participating in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Holodomor recognized as genocide
French MPs expressed their support for Ukraine in late March by passing a resolution recognizing as genocide the Holodomor, the famine caused by Soviet authorities in Ukraine in the early 1930s. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked them for this gesture, which responded to strong anticipation from Kiev amid painful memories of that murderous famine revived by the Russian invasion of the country. Russia, for its part, responded by scourging the French National Assembly for “anti-Russian fervor”.
Another resolution on the conflict in Ukraine could be considered at the forthcoming session. Led by Renaissance MP Pieyre Alexandre Anglade, it aims to denounce Russia’s deportations of Ukrainian children in a “premeditated strategy of destroying national identity and Ukrainian society”.