US targets Russian private military group Wagner for sanctions for fighting in Ukraine

The Biden administration on Friday announced new sanctions against the private Russian military group Wagner, which is fighting on the battlefield in Ukraine, and called out tensions between Moscow’s defense ministry and the head of the for-hire mercenary group. 

The sanctions include labeling Wagner, which is headed by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, as a “significant Transnational Criminal Organization,” warning nations and businesses off of dealing with Wagner or risking running afoul of American action. 

“It will broaden the network of nations and institutions that will be able to stop doing business with Wagner,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said of the designation, speaking to reporters at the White House briefing.

The U.S. is further raising alarm that North Korea is supplying Wagner with weapons and arms in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions, raising the prospect of more sanctions on Pyongyang. 

Kirby displayed what he said was photographic evidence of North Korea supplying weapons to Wagner, saying that Russian rail cars traveled from Russia to North Korea on Nov. 18 and returned the next day after being loaded with shipping containers. 

The U.S. had said earlier that North Korea has supplied rockets and missiles to Russia for use by Wagner, toward the end of 2022, but Kirby said Friday that the administration does not assess these weapons transfers have changed battlefield dynamics in Ukraine. 

“We do expect that it will continue to receive North Korean weapon systems,” Kirby said. “We obviously condemn North Korea’s actions and we urge North Korea to cease these deliveries to Wagner immediately and we are going further by taking action against Wagner itself.”

The U.S. has taken this information to the United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea panel of experts, Kirby said.

“We will continue to raise these violations at the Security Council alongside our allies and partners,” he added.

The Friday designation builds on the Commerce Department last month labeling Wagner as a “military end user,” an effort to restrict the group’s access to foreign-produced items and prevent it from acquiring products that are based on U.S. technology or U.S.-production equipment. 

More sanctions against Wagner are expected to be announced next week, Kirby said, including publicizing “its support networks across multiple continents.” 

“These actions recognize the transcontinental threat that Wagner poses, including through its ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity,” he said. 

Wagner’s military activities have been documented across the African continent and in the Middle East.

The Biden administration has made a point to call out Wagner’s involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine and highlight cracks and fractures between Russia’s military leadership and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reportedly close ties with Prigozhin. 

“We assess that it is likely there are mounting tensions between Russian officials and Mr. Prigozhin,” Kirby said.

He cited that the U.S. has intelligence that the Russian Ministry of Defense is growing frustrated with Wagner’s recruitment of fighters from Russian prisons, an estimated 40,000 of its 50,000 fighters operating in Ukraine being former convicts.

KIrby said that Putin is increasingly turning to Prigozhin and Wagner amid Russian military defeats in Ukraine.

“We are seeing indications including in intelligence, that tensions between Wagner and the Russian Ministry of Defense are increasing. Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries,” Kirby said.

“Publicly, Prigozhin and his fighters have criticized Russian generals and defense officials for their performance on the battlefield. Prigozhin is trying to advance his own interest in Ukraine and Wagner is making military decisions based largely, largely on what they will generate for promotion, in terms of positive publicity.” 

There are indications that Putin is growing frustrated with his military commanders. The Russian leader last week demoted the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine after three months in the position, and that followed a Russian retreat in the southern city of Kherson in November that Ukrainians, the U.S. and other Western partners hailed as a significant development. 

In eastern Ukraine, Prigozhin has sought to portray the Wagner group as taking control of the Ukrainian city of Soledar, according to an analysis from the Institute for the Study of War, that also cited Ukrainian and Russian military officials discussing ongoing fighting.

“Prigozhin nevertheless continues to use claims about the Wagner Group’s tactical success to elevate his position, likely deepening a conflict with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) for influence in the Russian information space,” the institute wrote in its assessment. 

The U.S. actions against Wagner come following the administration announcing late Thursday that it is providing an additional $2.5 billion in military assistance for Kyiv and $125 million in energy infrastructure support. 

Ukraine has been pushing the U.S. and its western partners to speed up military assistance to prepare for a renewed counter-offensive and push the Russian military out of Ukrainian territory it occupies.

While the U.S. has provided new capabilities in its latest package, in particular Stryker armored military vehicles, Washington held back on providing Abrams tanks that Ukrainians are requesting.

The administration said its held back on providing Abrams over maintenance concerns. 

Berlin has also held back on providing German-made Leopard 2 tanks, or giving permission to European countries that possess Leopard 2 tanks to be able to send them to Ukraine. 

Germany has sent mixed messages over what it intends to do. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Davos on Wednesday, responded to a question about Leopards saying “we are never doing something just by ourselves, but together with others — especially the United States.”

But Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Friday that the German Defense Minister had “not made a decision on the provision of Leopard tanks.”

Kirby said that the U.S. is not “arm twisting and nobody’s arm twisting us,” in response to a question from a reporter about the level of frustration in the White House over Germany’s position on the tanks. 

Kirby praised Germany for providing air defense and some armored vehicles to Ukraine and said the response of the U.S. and allies are constantly evolving. 

“We are just in a different phase now in this war, and so we’re all talking about what kinds of collective capabilities can be provided.”

—Updated at 3:15 p.m.