Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
Proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organisation, meeting legal criteria.
Recommendation
As a ‘stick’, the Government should proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organisation, recognising that—while there are risks of doing so—there are also risks of failing to do so, when the Network appears to meet the legal criteria. (Paragraph 73) What next?
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation and laid a draft proscription order which came into force on 15 September, officially adding the Wagner Group to the list of proscribed terrorist organisations and making support for it a criminal offence.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Agree. On 6 September, the Government laid a draft proscription order which has now been approved in both Houses and came into force on 15 September. The order added Wagner Group to the list of proscribed organisations listed in Schedule 2 to the Terrorism Act 2000. Proscription makes it a criminal offence for a person in the UK to belong to a proscribed organisation, support a proscribed organisation or wear clothing or carry articles in public which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation. Certain proscription offences can be punishable by up to 14 years in prison, or an unlimited fine. Wagner’s assets can also be categorised as terrorist property and are liable to be seized. This step underlines our intent to act against Russian aggression in Ukraine, in which Wagner has played an important role, as well as against Wagner’s wider activities, which have been repeatedly linked to human rights violations. 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. Wagner Group played a central role in combat operations against Ukrainian Armed Forces to seize the city of Popasna in May 2022, and during the assault of Bakhmut, which was occupied by Russian forces by June 2023. Wagner Group has been implicated in serious acts of violence and damage to property while working in a variety of African countries, demonstrating Wagner’s broader involvement in terrorism.