Wagner also has carried out non-military actions such as election interference in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and South Africa, and there is evidence of the group’s involvement in other countries, the committee said. The lawmakers said Wagner also has business interests in those countries, such as lucrative gold mining operations in the Central African Republic and Sudan, where Wagner’s gold-smuggling activities “enabled huge quantities of gold to bypass the state” and flow to Russia. The committee said with “high confidence” that Wagner had conducted military operations in at least seven countries since 2014: Ukraine, Syria, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique and Mali. paid little attention to Wagner before 2022, and “continues to give so little focus to countries beyond Ukraine.” It called it “deeply regrettable” that the U.K. interests further abroad, and the fact that its wealth creation sits largely in Africa,” the report said. “It is a significant failing to see the Wagner Network primarily through the prism of Europe, not least given its geographic spread, the impact of its activities on U.K. In a 78-page report, the committee said Wagner, which has close ties to the Russian state, operates like an “international criminal mafia, fueling corruption and plundering natural resources,” especially in Africa, where it provides stability and protection for several authoritarian leaders. It said Britain should “urgently proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organization,” something the Conservative government has so far been unwilling to do. and its allies of allowing the network to continue to thrive,” said the committee, whose members come from both governing and opposition parties. “There are serious national security threats to the U.K. authorities have done little to track the private army’s activities beyond Ukraine, where it has fought as part of Russia’s invading forces. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the sanctions imposed by Britain on Wagner are “underwhelming” and U.K.
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