The US White House announced that this week the "Wagner" group will be recognized as a terrorist organization, and this will entail additional sanctions, TSN reports. 

After the European Parliament took the initiative to recognize the Russian private military company "Wagner" as a terrorist organization in November last year, its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin sent the MEPs a "greeting" - a bloody sledgehammer in a violin case.

With a similar tool, the Wagnerites publicly executed their fighter - a former convict who was captured and then returned for exchange. 

When the same initiative - to recognize the "Wagner" group as a transnational terrorist organization - was announced in the United States, Prigozhin was not as daring, but only sent a concise letter to the White House strategic communications advisor.

"Dear Mr. Kirby, could you please explain what crime was committed by PVK "Wagner?".

Sincerely, Yevgeny Prigozhin," it read.  

It is unlikely that Prigozhin would have been honored with a personal answer in Washington if journalists had not asked about it at a briefing from the State Department spokesman.

“This letter from Mr. Prigozhin to my colleague from the White House appeared after the White House declassified new information about their activities in Ukraine.

The Wagner Group received additional support in North Korea.

This is not to mention the wider context - their destabilizing influence not only in Ukraine, but also in Africa," said Ned Price.  

New declassified US intelligence data indicate that Prigozhin purchased anti-personnel missiles from North Korea last November.

Their number, according to John Kirby, is not able to significantly affect the course of the war, nevertheless, the White House is concerned that Russia is increasingly finding support among exile states. 

Previously, according to American intelligence, the Kremlin had already bought artillery shells from Pyongyang.

Although North Korea officially declared that it did not sell weapons to Russia, the United States promised not only to bring this issue to a meeting of the UN Security Council, but also to impose additional sanctions on the "Wagner" group so that no one in the world who does not want to spoil relations with the United States would have deal with Prigozhin.

“This status means that anyone doing business with this organization will also be subject to sanctions.

So this puts an additional burden on Wagner.

What we want to do is to block the flow of resources - weapons, money, both for Russia and for the "Wagner" group.

We recognize the "Wagner" group as a terrorist organization, so that the world will see, and other nations will notice and possibly take the same steps." 

Whether these threats are able to influence the already sanctioned North Korea is debatable.

However, Prigozhin's criminal activities reached further - to Serbia, which aspires to become a member of the European Union.

Prigozhin recruits mercenaries there for the war in Ukraine.

In January, US State Department adviser Derek Scholle visited Belgrade and publicly stated that Washington was concerned about such activity. 

It is unlikely that the leadership of the "Wagner" group could seek support in other countries without agreements at the highest government level, believes former US ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor.

"I do not believe that Prigozhin would have been able to get weapons in North Korea without the approval of the Kremlin, or any government support from Moscow.

This is especially true of Syria, Libya and other countries where he went to recruit mercenaries.

It is not excluded, even in some African countries, where he hired mercenaries to fight against Ukraine.

He has one or another approval from the Russian government," he says.  

According to American estimates, about 50,000 Wagnerites are fighting on the territory of Ukraine, of which 90% are convicts mobilized in Russian colonies.

The Russian human rights organization "Sitting Rus'" provides the same data.

However, according to their data, no more than 10,000 remained in the ranks.

Others were killed, seriously wounded, fled from the battlefield to Russia, taking weapons, or are in captivity.

This means that Prigozhin will try to mobilize new mercenaries. 

The American Institute for the Study of War believes that Prigozhin's bravado poorly camouflages the problems that have begun to arise in his relationship with Putin.

Despite a personal promise, the "Wagner" group could not take Bakhmut for many months.

According to experts of the institute, Putin turned his back on him and again paid attention to the higher army leadership - Shoigu and Gerasimov.

The social elevator that lifted Prigozhin from the position of ex-convict, Putin's personal chef, serving dinner with George W. Bush 20 years ago, may just as quickly send him in the opposite direction.

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