French Parliament calls on EU to recognize Wagner Group as terrorist organization

The French Parliament has called on the European Union to officially designate Russia’s Wagner Group as a terrorist organization.

This is reported by The Guardian, Ukrinform saw.

“Wherever they work, Wagner members spread instability and violence,” French MP Benjamin Haddad told parliament on Tuesday. “They kill and torture. They massacre and pillage. They intimidate and manipulate with almost total impunity.”

He added that the Wagner forces were not simple mercenaries driven by an "appetite for money." According to Haddad, they "follow a broad strategy, from Mali to Ukraine, of supporting the aggressive policies of President Putin's regime towards our democracies."

On Tuesday, the lower house of the French parliament – the National Assembly – voted to recognize the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization. The resolution also aims to encourage the 27 EU member states to add Wagner to the official list of terrorist organizations.

As The Times reports with reference to a source in the British government, London also intends to officially put Wagner on the list of terrorist organizations.

The source said the UK Home Office has been working on the case for two months and a designation is likely to proceed within weeks.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on April 13, the Council of the EU officially announced the decision to apply restrictive measures against the Wagner Group, which the Kremlin actively employs in its war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as in military operations in other regions, in particular in African countries.