The French parliament has passed a non-binding resolution urging the European Union (EU) to designate the Russian mercenary group Wagner as a terrorist organization. The United Kingdom is also reportedly ready to label the group a “terror organisation.” French legislator Benjamin Haddad argued that wherever Wagner members operate, they spread instability and violence and engage in killing, torture, massacres, pillaging, intimidation, and manipulation with almost total impunity.
Haddad also stated that Wagner fighters support the aggressive policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime towards democracies from Mali to Ukraine.
Wagner has been accused of pushing anti-French propaganda operations in West Africa, particularly Mali, and leading Russia’s months-long attack on Bakhmut in Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the French Parliament and called on other countries to follow suit in designating the group a terrorist organization.
Meanwhile, the UK is poised to follow suit and announce Wagner as a terrorist organization, with the move resulting in the imposition of financial sanctions and other penalties on Russia.
If Wagner is designated a terrorist organization, EU members can freeze the group’s assets and those of its members. European companies and citizens would also be prohibited from conducting any dealings with the group. Wagner group chief Prigozhin already had his assets in the EU frozen in 2020 and was placed on a visa blacklist over the deployment of Wagner fighters to Libya.
The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, admitted that legally, the EU terrorist label would not have a direct supplemental effect on the group and its actions, but the designation’s symbolic importance and dissuasive effect on states tempted to turn to Wagner should not be underestimated.
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