US slaps new sanctions on Russia’s Wagner Group

The United States Department of the Treasury announced on Thursday on its website that it designated the Wagner Group, a Russian private military firm, as a “significant transnational criminal organization.”

The Treasury introduced new sanctions against the paramilitary group, stating that it has been participating in an “ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity” not only in Ukraine but also in Africa and Mali. The official body also added numerous entities and people that have connections to the group to its sanctions list.

Additionally, today, the US State Department slapped visa bans on 531 members of the Russian armed forces “for actions that threaten or violate the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of Ukraine.”