The US Treasury Department has designated the Russian mercenary group Wagner PMC as a transnational criminal organization and will next week impose additional sanctions against it and its support network around the world.

This was reported by CNN with reference to the statement of the coordinator of strategic communication of the US National Security Council, John Kirby.

"These actions recognize the transcontinental threat posed by PVK Wagner, in particular, through a constant pattern of serious criminal activity," the White House representative said.

According to Kirby, during the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin relied more on the mercenaries of the "Wagner" PMC than on the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces.

He estimated that there are now about 50,000 Wagner group fighters stationed in Ukraine, including 10,000 contract workers and 40,000 convicts.

"The Wagner group is becoming a competing power center for the Russian military and other Russian ministries," Kirby noted.

Weapons that the Russian Federation received from North Korea in violation of international rules were probably used to arm the mercenaries.

Along with the announcement of new US sanctions against PVK "Wagner", recently declassified photos of Russian railcars headed from North Korea, presumably with a load of ammunition, were released.

It will be recalled that the mercenaries of the "Wagner" PMK, wounded in the war against Ukraine, are being treated at the "My Medical Center" clinic in St. Petersburg.

The medical facility is associated with the friend of the Russian president, the oligarch Yury Kovalchuk, and the daughter of the state leader, Maria Vorontsova. 

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• Ukraine news

• War in Ukraine

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