The US Treasury Department has designated the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, as a "transnational criminal organization," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced Friday. This is reported by CNN.
The Treasury Department will also impose new sanctions against the group and its global allies next week, the White House said.
"These actions recognize the transcontinental threat posed by Wagner, including through an ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity," Kirby told reporters at the White House before the Treasury Department's announcement.
After the U.S. announced its intention to introduce sanctions against the group in connection with its qualification as a significant transnational criminal organization, Yevhen Prigozhin, the founder of the "Wagner" PMC, called the Americans "colleagues."
The Ministry of Defense of Great Britain has prepared another report based on intelligence, which today focuses on the mercenaries of the "Wagner" group. It said, among other things, that the group "almost certainly now commands up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine and has become a key component of the campaign in Ukraine."