The U.S. Treasury Department has recognized Russiaʼs PMC Wagner as a transnational criminal organization and imposed new sanctions against it and those who support it.
This is stated in the press release of the US Treasury.
At the same time, the US State Department announced a series of sanctions aimed at the key infrastructure of Wagner PMC. According to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the list includes airlines used by militants, propagandists and front companies. In total, five organizations and one individual are associated with "Wagner PMC" and its founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin.
The agency also announced that it would take measures to introduce visa restrictions for 531 Russian servicemen involved in the attack on Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department, in particular, imposed sanctions against Terra Tech, a Russian technology company that supplies Russians with commercial satellite images and drone photos.
The Changsha Tianya Research Institute of Space Science and Technology, an enterprise based in China that provided Terra Tech with an order for satellite images over the territory of Ukraine, was also on the list of restrictions.
Joint-stock company Scientific and Production Concern "BARL" — a Russian space company that provides the Russian military with high-resolution foreign satellite images — also came under sanctions.
In addition, the list includes the "International Security Officersʼ Union" and its director Oleksandr Ivanov, Sewa Security Services, Valery Zakharov, the Kratol Aviation airline from the United Arab Emirates, which was used by the "Wagners", the Russian cargo airline "Aviakon Tsytotrans", the Ural Civil Aviation Plant of aviation, which is a developer of drones, the state-owned aircraft repair company "National Aviation Service Company", the developer of communications equipment for aviation, the Scientific and Production Enterprise "Prima" and the Scientific and Production Enterprise "Gamma".
Restrictions were imposed against the Almaz-Antey concern and its director Yan Novikov, Alan Lushnikov and his company TKH-Invest, as well as against two officials from Putinʼs administration, Oleksandr Kharichev and Boris Rapoport.
- The Russian "PVK Wagner" takes an active part in the war against Ukraine and is involved not only in battles, but also in the construction of defense fortifications in the occupied territories. Also, the "Wagnerians" are probably responsible for a number of executions of video prisoners and war crimes.
- In November, EU deputies proposed to recognize the "Wagner PMC" as a terrorist organization. A corresponding bill was submitted to the US Senate.