Wagner Group still a threat to global security

The British government is set to label Russia’s notorious Wagner Group a terrorist organisation, Home Secretary Suella Braverman confirmed today, meaning it will join the ranks of al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and Hamas. 

The move draws attention to the fact that the Kremlin-financed private military company remains a global security threat, despite the death of its notorious boss leaving the group’s future uncertain. 

“They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law,” declared Braverman, who today laid before Parliament a draft order to proscribe Wagner Group under the Terrorism Act 2000. 

The order – labelled as “long overdue” by Labour – is expected to come into force on 13 September and will make it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, to belong to the group, assist its activities or even use its logo. 

This law will allow Wagner’s assets to be classed as ‘terrorist property’ and seized as well as providing a legal basis for Ukrainians and others to sue Wagner for potentially billions of pounds in compensation through the British courts.

The Wagner Group first emerged in 2014 during Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Founded by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin and his second-in-command Dmitry Utkin — both of whom were killed in a plane crash last month – its recruits are largely Russian convicts, former Russian soldiers and foreign nationals, paid to provide mercenary services.

While Ukraine is where the largest force of Wagner mercenaries operate, its grip on Middle Eastern and African countries is deemed increasingly troubling. 

Human rights groups say the Wagner has carried out “executions and torture in Mali and the Central African Republic” – just two examples of countries where it offers unstable governments security services in exchange for rights to natural resources including gold and diamonds. Much of these proceeds then go back into funding the Kremlin’s war effort.

For years, Wagner’s operations were shrouded in secrecy, with the Kremlin refusing to public acknowledge its links to the paramilitary group. 

But this has changed recently. In June, Prigozhin’s failed attempt at a coup prompted Putin to admit for the first time that the Wagner Group is “fully financed” by the Russian state budget, which paid the group $940 million between May 2022 and May 2023. 

While Braverman’s move today acknowledges the threat posed by this private military company, it arguably comes at a curious time. 

The Wagner may be more high profile than ever yet it has been systematically weakened by its failed mutiny as well as the death of all of its top brass. 

That said, it would be premature – and almost certainly far too optimistic – to say that the Wagner Group no longer poses a threat to global security. 

The elimination of its central leadership could well end any remaining means Wagner had to operate independently of Russia’s ministry of defence. But its operation will likely continue in some form, perhaps under direct state control. 

Labelling the Wagner Group a global terror threat is an overdue move but, sadly, almost certainly still a necessary one. 

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