Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
11
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 42
Government's delayed and limited focus on Wagner beyond Ukraine is regrettable.
Conclusion
The Wagner Network began its activities in 2014. By early 2022, when the Government began to invest greater resource in understanding the network, Wagner fighters had already undertaken military deployments in at least seven countries. It is deeply regrettable that it took this long, and that the Government continues to give so little focus to countries beyond Ukraine. This leaves us even less prepared to respond to the evolution of this notoriously shape-shifting network.
Government Response Summary
The government partially agrees with the conclusion, accepting the need to tackle Wagner and the value of declassifying intelligence where feasible. It highlights its efforts to expose Wagner's activities and states it has recently enhanced communication channels, particularly in Africa, to address the network's evolution.
Paragraph Reference:
42
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Partially agree. 52. We agree on the need to tackle Wagner, and that this will require co-ordinated action with our partners, and a mix of incentives and levers, some of which we have set out in our response to recommendations 2, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. We also agree on the potential value of declassification and sharing of intelligence, though clearly it is not always possible to do so, as a result of the risks either to UK equities or to those of Allies who have shared information with the UK. Of course, countries who choose to work with Wagner are often aware of the risks from the wealth of material on the negative effects of their operations in the media, or from international bodies such as the UN. More generally, we believe that there is a real value in exposing the egregious and self-serving activities of the Wagner Group, in whatever form it may transition to, as well as other proxy Russian PMSCs, and in the last few months have stepped up both our channels for communicating on this, for example in Africa, and our use of them.