Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Conclusion 16
Seventh Report - Guns for gold: the Wagner Network exposed
Published 26 Jul 2023
Paragraph 57
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee The Wagner Group and beyond: proxy Private Military Companies All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Minister had no specific knowledge of work within his Department to analyse whether Wagner activities undermine the financial impact of UK sanctions on the Russian war machine. Despite finding it “likely”, he could not confirm that the FCDO had had any input to HM Treasury’s unwise decision to issue sanctions waivers to Prigozhin. Despite assuring us that the Treasury and FCDO communicate over sanctions waivers in general, the Minister himself had not received any official advice specifically on sanctions waivers. Given his position as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Europe, we would expect him to have an interest and role in questions relating to sanctions waivers linked to Russia and Ukraine. His statements also lead us to question whether the Russia Unit is providing the necessary join-up between the FCDO and Treasury, given the central role of sanctions as a tool of UK foreign policy.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Seventh Report - Guns for gold: the Wagner Network exposed (HC 167), paragraph 57, 26 July 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 30 October 2023 (deadline 26 September 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government responds to the Committee's recommendations by agreeing with some, partially agreeing with others and disagreeing with one, and says it has already proscribed Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation.
- On proscription, it "agrees" with the Committee's recommendation and says the order added Wagner Group to the list of proscribed organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000, in force from 15 September.
- It disagrees with a specific mechanism for coordinating Wagner sanctions with the US and EU, stating that existing mechanisms already enable close coordination, though it "will, however, keep the option of a specific mechanism for Wagner under review".
- On sanctions it partially agrees, saying its ability to sanction "depends on being able to build individual cases in line with the statutory requirements" and that it "will consider" the Committee's appendices in detail when considering further action.
- On aid, it partially agrees: it is committed to 0.7% of Gross National Income on ODA "once the fiscal situation allows", but says it currently has "no plans to reintroduce the FCAS spending commitment".