The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a resolution to recognize the Russian private military company Wagner as an international criminal organization.
The resolution was approved by 333 MPs, LB.ua correspondent reports.
"The Ukrainian competent authorities have received irrefutable evidence of the criminal nature of the activities of the private military company Wagner (hereinafter - PMC Wagner)," the statement said.
It is noted that since 2014, PMC Wagner has been directly involved in the implementation of Russia's aggressive policy to the detriment of peace, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Wagner PMC is under full control of Russia and is one of the instruments of unprovoked armed aggression against Ukraine and genocide of the Ukrainian people.
In their activities on the territory of Ukraine, members of the PMC use criminal methods that are indiscriminate and pose a threat to the life and health of the civilian population, and have signs of a massive violation of international humanitarian law.
"Members of the Wagner PMC are responsible for numerous cases of unlawful and unjustified use of weapons against the civilian population of Ukraine, acts of cruelty and ill-treatment, forced displacement of civilians, rape, abduction of children, mass executions, armed attacks on educational and healthcare institutions, religious buildings, etc. Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating these facts, including under articles on terrorism. The international nature of the criminal activities of the Wagner PMC is confirmed by irrefutable evidence of its destabilization activities, human rights violations and illegal operations with natural resources in Africa (CAR, Mali, Libya) and the Middle East (Syria). Members of the Wagner PMC are involved in serious criminal offenses, including mass extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, kidnapping, hostage-taking, etc. Given the above, there is a need to recognize the Wagner PMC as an international criminal organization," the MPs emphasize.
In addition, 336 MPs voted for the Resolution on the Appeal to the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly, governments and parliaments of the world to recognize Russian private military companies as terrorist organizations.
The resolution refers to the following Russian private military companies: E.N.O.T., Cossacks, SlavCorps, ATKGroup, Centre R, MS Group, MAP, RSB Group and PMC Wagner.
Ukrainian MPs call on governments and parliaments of the world "to recognize Russian private military companies as terrorist organizations, to recognize the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which fully supports terrorism and to block the activities of the UN Security Council, thereby threatening international peace and security, and to increase pressure on the Russian Federation, including by introducing new sectoral restrictive measures (sanctions)".