A bipartisan group of senators is trying once again to pass a bill that would require the State Department to designate the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group, as a foreign terrorist organization.
The private army group has become prominent as it fights alongside Russia's military while the country invades Ukraine. Lawmakers cited the Russian mercenary company’s history of human rights violations in Africa and its deployment of private soldiers in Ukraine to fight on behalf of Russia.
Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation that would seek to hold the Wagner Group accountable for human rights violations by adding it to the FTO blacklist. The bill was introduced but not passed before the end of the last Congress.
“The Wagner Group has murdered journalists, kidnapped children, raped women, engaged in savage conduct that gives new meaning to the word foreign terrorist organization,” said Blumenthal at a press conference on Thursday.
TREASURY DEPARTMENT TO LIST WAGNER GROUP AS 'TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION'
The legislation would go a step further than the action from the Treasury Department last month that designated the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization responsible for widespread human rights abuses.
“If we pass this designation, that makes it harder for the Wagner Group to recruit. They become radioactive, more so than they are today,” said Graham. “If you’re in their sphere of influence, you’re in a world of hurt. This means people associated with this group can be expelled from the United States, denied admission, people assisting the Wagner Group in any fashion subject to sanctions.”
The introduction of the bill comes before the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
“I think this is an appropriate way to mark the first anniversary. We can start letting everybody in the world know there is no forgiving and forgetting when it comes to this war,” Graham said.
In a fiercely divided Senate, the legislation appears to have an overwhelming amount of bipartisan support. Whitehouse said he’d like to see the bill passed quickly.
“We think it would be appropriate for Leader Schumer and Leader McConnell to clear this for a vote quickly in the Senate and to mark the anniversary of Russia’s treachery and brutality with a response to the Wagner Group,” he said.
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Whitehouse, Graham, and Blumenthal said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky watches America's actions closely and is in regular contact with Senate leadership.
“President Zelensky is very aware of what the United States Congress does. He was very tuned into the resolution that was passed, asking the administration to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. He tracks very closely of what happens in this country,” Blumenthal said.
The senators will join a bipartisan congressional delegation to attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where they said they’ll continue to advocate on behalf of Ukraine.
“The message we will deliver: America is here to stay for the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian people. We’re here to stay for making sure that the war criminals that perpetrated these atrocities face justice,” Whitehouse said.