Balanced News: US designates Russian Wagner mercenary force a crime organisation

The United States has designated Russia’s Wagner mercenary group as a “transnational criminal organisation”, piling pressure on the private army that has recruited tens of thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine. Wagner “is a criminal organisation that is committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses”, Kirby said. He said the US Treasury was formally designating Wagner as a transnational criminal organisation, putting it in league with the Italian mafia and Japanese and Russian organised crime.