By Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain should toughen its approach to the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group while it is vulnerable after an abortive mutiny last month, lawmakers said in a report that criticised Britain for a lack of coherence in its approach to the group.
Lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs Committee urged more targeted sanctions on what it said were a “web of entities” beneath the Wagner Group, and added the group should be labelled as a terrorist organisation by Britain and proscribed.
“In the wake of the attempted coup last month, the future manifestations of the Wagner Network are uncertain,” said Alicia Kearns, chair of the committee.
“With the network at its most vulnerable – and the clock ticking – the time for action is now.”
Wagner Group was active in the war in Ukraine until the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led a mutiny last month which he said aimed to settle scores with Russia’s military leaders rather than topple President Vladimir Putin. Belarus then brokered an end to the mutiny.
The United States, Britain and their allies have also voiced increasing concern over Wagner Group’s activities in Africa.
Kearns said that the British government had a “dismal lack of understanding of Wagner’s hold beyond Europe, in particular their grip on African states.”
“In the ten years since the Wagner Network’s formation, the UK Government has lacked a coherent strategy and efforts to meaningfully tackle Wagner have been non-existent,” she said.
“This has allowed the network to grow, spread its tentacles deep into Africa, and exploit countries on their knees due to conflict or instability.”
Britain sanctioned Prigozhin in 2020, the Wagner Group as a whole in March 2022, and last week sanctioned individuals and businesses with links to the group in the Central African Republic, Mali and Sudan.
“We have heavily sanctioned the Wagner Group, including its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and several key commanders, limiting their travel and freezing their assets,” a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said.
“We continue to work with our allies to expose and counter their destabilising activities around the world.”
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Editing by William Maclean)
