Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 31
Wagner Network's links to the Russian state confirmed, but countries may still engage.
Conclusion
Over the past year and a half, the Russia-Ukraine war eroded the Wagner Network’s deniability and Prigozhin’s public arguments with the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed the network’s long-suspected links to the Russian state. The brutality of its fighters in Ukraine is appalling but not atypical. So long as the network survives in some form, we believe that countries may still turn to it in future. Many leaders— mostly in insecure environments in Africa—are likely already to have known the price of engaging the network when they decided to work with it.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government partially agrees with the observation, stating its International Development Strategy addresses conflict and fragility in low-income countries, with ODA allocations prioritising these areas, and an additional £2.5 billion over two years for refugees, while noting no plans to reintroduce the FCAS spending commitment.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
31
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
2. In recent years, Wagner has grown in importance, both for Russian foreign policy, and for many countries in which it operates. We agree with the Committee that it has had a destabilising impact, and that Russia’s use of Wagner could represent a wider shift towards the Kremlin using Private Military Security Companies (PMSCs) as proxies. 20. The Government judges that Wagner commits and participates in terrorism. This includes the use of serious violence against Ukrainian Armed Forces and against civilians to advance Russia’s political cause. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Wagner Group’s forces were deployed as a force multiplier to support the Russian military, receiving financial, logistical and military support from the Russian state.
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