Democrat Ben Cardin and Republican Roger Wicker introduced a bill to the US Congress to designate the Wagner PMC as a foreign terrorist organization.
In the bill's six-page document, the senators list the crimes of "Putin's chef" Yevgeny Prigozhin's company. These include the genocide, torture and rape of residents of Ukrainian Bucha in March 2022, the massacre in Mali in the same month, the killing of migrant workers and civilians on the border of Sudan and the Central African Republic in 2022, and the murder of Russian journalists in the Central African Republic in 2018. Also included in the list of crimes of PMC Wagner is an attempt to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2022.
“Vladimir Putin and his henchmen will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, including using mercenaries like the Wagner PMC to commit atrocities on their behalf. The US should call this shadow army what it is: a foreign terrorist group. We need to hold them accountable along with everyone who supports them,” Wicker said .
Wicker's website also published a statement by Cardin: "The United States must immediately designate the Wagner PMC as a foreign terrorist organization. This will reduce the size of the Russian armed forces and help bring human rights violators to justice.”
If the law is passed, Wagner PMC will be recognized as a terrorist organization no later than 90 days after the date of adoption. This will give the US grounds for prosecuting militants and spying on their global international assets.
