The Russian Wagner private military company conducts criminal activities not only in Ukraine but also in West Africa, and therefore it should be recognized as a terrorist organization, Ukrinform has quoted Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
"Ukraine, which suffers most from the criminal activities of the Wagner PMC, supports the position of African countries that consider the Wagner members a significant security threat. We must immediately recognize them as a terrorist organization," Kuleba said.
He recalled that in addition to the storming of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk Region, the Wagner is helping the military junta in Burkina Faso. In exchange for this, they received permission to develop gold deposits on the border with Ghana.
In addition, after the deployment of the Wagner in Mali, the military government of this country withdrew from the Sahel Five, a regional association of countries fighting jihadists.
"Russian interference is delaying the prospects for restoring constitutional rule in Mali and Burkina Faso and destabilizing the whole of West Africa. Weakening African countries is beneficial for the Wagner because in the conditions of chaos it is easier to plunder the natural resources of the region and then invest them in equipping and financing their units in Ukraine. This is a simple connection between the Wagner's gold mining in Africa and the hostilities in Ukraine conducted by this terrorist group," Kuleba pointed out.
He added that Ukraine calls for strengthening international pressure on the military governments of those countries in the region that provide their territory and resources for the activities of these Russian terrorists.