The U.S. is increasingly focused on denouncing the Wagner group, a 'brutal' paramilitary group aiding Russian forces in Ukraine. Here's what to know about the group the U.S. has labeled a 'criminal organization.'
, casting the effort much differently than the American assessment that it is criminal.
The Department of Justice accused the IRA of conspiring to "defraud the United States... for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016."A Kremlin spokesman at the time said the case was "absolutely unsubstantiated." "Wagner's ability to mine for gold and smuggle it out of the country has actually allowed Wagner and oligarchs like Prigozhin and others in Moscow to soften the blow of some of the Western sanctions," Doxsee said.
There have been additional accusations from non-governmental organizations of human rights abuses in Mali, where government forces have been working with Wagner fighters, advocates say. "There are presidents to whom I gave my word that I would defend them," Prigozhin said. "If I now withdraw one-hundred, two-hundred or five-hundred fighters from there, then [these countries] will simply cease to exist."
In total, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned nine people and 14 entities in Russia, China, the Central African Republic and the United Arab Emirates, mostly with alleged Wagner connections. The Treasury also identified two yachts and one aircraft that are now considered blocked by the U.S. government.
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