UK officially bans Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group as terrorist organisation
The UK has formally banned Russia's mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation weeks after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. The government order, approved on Friday, makes it a criminal offence to be a member or a supporter of the paramilitary group in the UK. “The Russian mercenary organisation, Wagner Group, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation today after an order was laid in Parliament on Wednesday September 6,” the Home Office said in a statement. Apart from joining the group or showing support, arranging meetings for the group and displacing Wagner's flag or logo will also be considered a criminal offence. Those found guilty of violating the order will face a potential prison sentence of up to 14 years, which can be handed down alongside or in place of a fine, it added. The move puts Wagner in the same category as the Islamic State group, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Boko Haram in Africa and Northern Ireland paramilitaries among others. The Wagner Group is a private military company that was under the control of Prigozhin until his reported death in a plane crash on 23 August. It has been a key part of Moscow’s fighting force in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Home secretary Suella Braverman proposing the ban last week said Wagner has been "involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders". Calling the group a "threat to national security", Ms Braverman added:"They are terrorists, plain and simple - and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law." The ban will allow UK authorities to seize the organisation’s assets in a symbolic move as Wagner is not known to operate in Britain. Wagner cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 – and eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region in the aftermath of that act and has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian Civil War. The ban came into force following a recommendation by the parliament’s influential Foreign Affairs Committee in July that Wagner be outlawed. The committee said British authorities had “underplayed and underestimated” the threat posed by the mercenary group. The committee said Wagner’s future was uncertain after Prigozhin’s short-lived armed mutiny against Russia’s top military leaders in June. The lawmakers said Britain should take advantage of the confused situation to “disrupt” Wagner. Several other allies of Ukraine have sanctioned Wagner's leaders, and earlier this year, the Lithuanian and Estonian legislatures passed resolutions declaring it a terrorist organisation. The US has designated the Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organisation. Read More With its leader dead, can the Wagner group rise and ride again? What next for the Wagner Group as leader presumed dead in plane crash? Ukraine-Russia war – live: ‘Significant losses’ for Putin’s forces as Kyiv retakes village and attacks ships The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
2023-09-16 14:55
'Hostage diplomacy': a growing headache for the West
Sylvie Arnaud's first feeling when she learnt her son Louis had been detained in Iran in September last year was sheer incredulity, followed by a...
2023-09-16 14:21
Ukraine-Russia war – live: ‘Significant losses’ for Putin’s forces as Kyiv retakes village and attacks ships
Ukraine has claimed fresh success in its counteroffensive against Vladimir Putin’s forces, with the recapture of another village – a liberation that the army says is “key to success in all further directions”. The announcement by the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said that Russian forces had faced “significant losses” in the battle. Kyiv’s forces are seeking to reclaim land occupied by Moscow across multiple areas of southern and eastern Ukraine. The village of Andriivka is about 10 kilometres south of the Donetsk town of Bakhmut, which Russia captured in May after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Meanwhile, Britain’s most senior military officer said Ukraine had taken the initiative over Russia with its offensive, even if gains are gradual. Sir Tony Radakin said: “In the north they are holding and fixing Russian forces there and in the south they are making progress between 10 and 20km.” His comments came as Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Ukraine’s destruction of a Russian air defence system in the annexed Crimea peninsula. Read More Kim Jong Un stops to see a fighter jet factory as Russia and North Korea are warned off arms deals She danced with Putin at her wedding. Now the former Austrian foreign minister has moved to Russia What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?
2023-09-16 14:16
Letter showing Pope Pius XII had detailed information from German Jesuit about Nazi crimes revealed
Newly discovered correspondence in the Vatican archives suggests that Pope Pius XII had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that up to 6,000 Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland
2023-09-16 14:15
Louisiana governor candidates face off in debate highlighting abortion ban and police brutality
Louisiana’s election is just a month away and candidates hoping to break through the pack tried to set themselves apart during a televised debate
2023-09-16 13:59
Scholz’s Dream of Climate Revolution to Revive Germany Is Dying
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is struggling to pull off his plan to harness the transition to green energy and
2023-09-16 13:55
How tall is John Cena? Legendary wrestler's height makes him feel he 'looks like Terminator on screen'
During his listing in pro wrestling, John Cena's height was exaggerated by an additional inch by the WWE
2023-09-16 13:45
Kim Jong Un meets Russia defence minister in Vladivostok
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Vladivostok on Saturday where he was met by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, according to...
2023-09-16 13:17
Mexico extradites son of ‘El Chapo’ Ovidio Guzmán López to US
Mexico extradited Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, to the United States on Friday to face drug trafficking charges, US attorney general Merrick Garland said in a statement. “This action is the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations,” Mr Garland said. The Mexican government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mexican security forces captured Mr Guzmán López, alias “the Mouse,” in January in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa state, the cartel’s namesake. Three years earlier, the government had tried to capture him, but aborted the operation after his cartel allies set off a wave of violence in Culiacan. January’s arrest set off similar violence that killed 30 people in Culiacan, including 10 military personnel. The army used Black Hawk helicopter gunships against the cartel’s truck-mounted .50-caliber machine guns. Cartel gunmen hit two military aircraft forcing them to land and sent gunmen to the city’s airport where military and civilian aircraft were hit by gunfire. The capture came just days before US president Joe Biden visited Mexico for bilateral talks followed by the North American Leaders’ Summit. On Friday, Mr Garland recognized the law enforcement and military members who had given their lives in the US and Mexico. "The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country.” In April, US prosecutors unsealed sprawling indictments against Mr Guzmán and his brothers, known collectively as the “Chapitos.” They laid out in detail how following their father’s extradition and eventual life sentence in the US, the brothers steered the cartel increasingly into synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. The indictment unsealed in Manhattan said their goal was to produce huge quantities of fentanyl and sell it at the lowest price. Fentanyl is so cheap to make that the cartel reaps immense profits even wholesaling the drug at 50 cents per pill, prosecutors said. The brothers denied the allegations in a letter. The Chapitos became known for grotesque violence that appeared to surpass any notions of restraint shown by earlier generations of cartel leaders. Fentanyl has become a top priority in the bilateral security relationship. But Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has denied assertions by the US government and his own military about fentanyl production in Mexico, instead describing the country as a transit point for precursors coming from China and bound for the US. López Obrador blames a deterioration of family values in the US for the high levels of drug addiction in that country. An estimated 109,680 overdose deaths occurred last year in the United States, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 75,000 of those were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Inexpensive fentanyl is increasingly cut into other drugs, often without the buyers’ knowledge. Read More El Chapo’s son, three Sinaloa cartel leaders and two Mexican firms sanctioned for bringing fentanyl into US Case details Sinaloa cartel's fentanyl-fueled evolution Mexican capo's arrest a gesture to US, not signal of change Big week for US-Mexico ties going into North American summit Drug lord, trafficker, killer of wedding singers: How the ‘New Mouse’ followed in the bloody footsteps of his father El Chapo
2023-09-16 12:52
Military officers begin to speak out on the harm done by Sen. Tuberville's holds on promotions
In the months since a single senator froze military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, the uniformed officers affected have been largely silent, wary of stepping into a political fray
2023-09-16 12:52
One year since Mahsa Amini's death, a protester shot in the eye during Iran's crackdown continues her struggle from exile
Elahe Tavakolian's shooter was so close, she could see him pointing his gun at her.
2023-09-16 12:50
Uncertain and afraid: Florida’s immigrants grapple with a disrupted reality under new law
In the months since Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed one of the strictest immigration laws in the country, daily life for Florida’s immigrant community has become fraught and governed by fear
2023-09-16 12:50