Moscow downplayed the importance of the United States’ decision to classify the Wagner Group of mercenaries close to the Kremlin as a “transnational criminal organization”.
“I don’t think this has any practical significance for our country, or even more so for the private military company Wagner,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing.
“It is unlikely that the decision will affect Russia or the group itself,” he said.
And Friday, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, told reporters that, in addition to the Treasury Department’s decision to classify the Wagner Group as a “transnational criminal organization,” President Joe Biden’s administration “will impose economic sanctions on the organization and its supporters.”
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Wagner is known as a private Russian military company, operating in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and other African countries, including Mali and the Central African Republic.
The group is believed to have “played an extensive role” in Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as in the annexation of Crimea in 2014.