Wagner Group of mercenaries: Why Joe Biden and US Congress are at odds over designating it a ‘terrorist’ group

These lawmakers believe that the designation of a transnational criminal organisation is largely symbolic and, unlike the FTO label, it wouldn’t severely impact the Wagner Group’s operations. However, the Biden administration argues that the FTO designation might result in a “potential, negative blowback”, The Hill said.

What would the FTO designation mean for the Wagner Group?

FTO is a designation for non-US organisations that are deemed to be involved in terrorist activities. According to Section 219 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State can “designate an organisation as a foreign terrorist organisation… if the Secretary finds that (A) the organisation is a foreign organisation; (B) the organisation engages in terrorist activity or terrorism… or (C) …threatens the security of United States nationals or the national security of the United States”.

The US State Department says that once an organisation is labelled as an FTO, “it is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide “material support or resources” to” it. Moreover, members and representatives of an FTO, “if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances, removable from the United States”. The department also adds that the funds of an FTO must be frozen and reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury.

Experts suggest that if the Wagner Group were to be designated as an FTO, it would equip the US and its allies with a variety of ways to starve the organisation and its members of resources and halt its operations. Most importantly, the label’s extraterritorial reach would make it a crime to provide material support to the group and its affiliates.

An analysis recently published by Politico explained that “such a designation would substantially hamper Wagner’s operations by putting foreign individuals, companies and countries on notice that doing business with the organisation means risking prosecution in the United States.”

What is the Wagner Group and what are the allegations against it?

The Wagner Group first surfaced during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Essentially a network of contractors that supply soldiers for hire, the group isn’t registered anywhere and its source of funding remains unknown.

According to the European Union and US Treasury Department, the organisation is supported by the Russian oligarch and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is a former hot dog vendor and restaurateur — both the Kremlin and Prigozhin have denied the claims of their association. Apart from Ukraine, Wagner Group is reportedly also active in West Asia and several countries in Africa.

Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict last year, numerous news reports have claimed that the group — consisting of over 50,000 mercenaries in Ukraine, as per the UK Ministry of Defence — has been supporting Russia’s war effort.

In the HARM Act, the lawmakers who advocate for an FTO label for Wagner have alleged that it has been involved in carrying out murders, mass rape, torture, forced disappearance and dislocation of thousands of people not only in Ukraine but also in Africa. Most recently, the organisation was accused of being involved in the massacres, rape, and torture of civilians in Ukraine’s Bucha that took place in March 2022.

Why is the Biden administration not designating the Wagner Group as FTO?

According to The Hill, the Biden administration is reluctant to label Wagner Group as FTO as it believes that the move “could impede US efforts to convince and work with African nations to end their associations with or dependency on Wagner.”

It’s well-known that the organisation is operating in several countries, such as Sudan, Libya, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad, in Africa and provides assistance to those nations that have weak militaries.

Speaking to the news outlet, an anonymous source said that the Biden administration’s hesitation in declaring the Wagner Group as FTO is not on Ukraine grounds, but rather on African grounds. The source further explained that the sudden imposition of the designation would mean that the government officials of those African countries, which deal with the group, would be immediately banned from travelling to the US. Moreover, their assets would also be seized, according to the law.