Despite the “accidental” death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s leader, the organization of Russian mercenaries remains true to its original purpose and plans to reinvent itself. This Wednesday the UK government declared the group as “terrorist organization”, although the measure now goes into the hands of Parliament for approval and subsequent entry into force. Downing Street accuses him of that “violent and destructive” as well as “a military tool of Russia by Russian President Vladimir Putin”.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has submitted a bill to the House of Commons to ‘ban’ the group under Britain’s Terrorism Act. Once MEPs reach an agreement, The measure comes into effect on September 13 and membership of, support for, and use of the logo of the group will be considered a criminal offence. Some of these crimes carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years or a fine of up to £5,000, the UK government said in a statement clarifying that Wagner assets were involved group could also be cataloged as “terrorist property”.
“While the Putin regime is deciding what to do with the monster it has created, The group’s destabilizing activities continue to serve the Kremlin’s political goals., has said. “They are terrorists, pure and simple, and this prohibition order makes that clear in the law,” Braverman said.
On the other hand, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said so The Wagner group ‘endangers democracy and freedom around the world’ and has stressed that the group acted on Putin’s orders worldwide and committed “torture, robbery and barbarism”.
The Kremlin commented on this decision and its establishment, declaring that the Wagner Group “does not exist from a legal point of view”. This was stated by the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitry Peskov, who indicated that there was “nothing to comment on”. “Legally, this group does not exist”has said.
The UK Anti-Terrorism Act, in force since 2000, gives the Home Office the power to ban an organization if it believes it is involved in terrorism. Before the law it was only possible to ban terrorist groups in Northern Ireland.