January 22, 2023

by |Ritchel jean

With the White House announcing that the United States will classify

the Russian paramilitary company Wagner as a criminal organization, US National Security spokesman John Kirby said that his country will not be content with that announcement, but will impose other sanctions on it, because it "commits atrocities and human rights violations in Ukraine and elsewhere".

The successes of the company "Wagner", specializing in the supply of mercenaries, raised Washington and Europe's fear of Russia's dominance over influential files around the world, according to experts.

Russian Yevgeny prigozin, the head of Wagner, sent a letter to the White House, specifically to Kirby, demanding that he clarify "the crimes committed by Wagner to deserve this classification".

Late last year, Prigozhin warned the United States against putting his company on terrorist lists, saying: "Do not wake Wagner".

The sanctions imposed by Washington on countries and organizations are mainly economic, and military if necessary, and if "Wagner" is put on the sanctions list, the following will be implemented:

* Seizure of its assets within the countries allied with Washington.

* Washington has the right to pursue its leaders security and economic.

* Sanctions sometimes include freezing assets, preventing people from entering some countries, and may even go as far as targeting.

The situation here is similar to the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019; both organizations have military activity.

Washington has repeatedly targeted IRGC bases in Syria and Iraq with missile strikes, assassinated the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, and imposed harsh sanctions on him.

It is noteworthy that "Wagner" mostly works in geographical spots where Americans are spread, which means that they are areas of struggle for influence, including:

• In Syria, there are points of contact between the American forces and the fighters of "Wagner" controlling positions there, and it is assumed that there is coordination between the two sides to prevent a collision, and once sanctions are imposed on "Wagner" this coordination may stop.

* Wagner is deployed in African countries such as Guinea, Central Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, and recently Mali, and these countries fall within the scope of the work of the US military command in Africa, AFRICOM, which makes Africa a new hotspot for the Russian-American conflict by classifying Wagner as a terrorist.