UK officially bans Russia's Wagner as 'terrorist organization'

LONDON

Britain has officially proscribed Russian mercenary Wagner Group as a banned terrorist organization, making it illegal to be a member or give it support.

Wagner Group has become 79th terrorist organization to be banned in UK, after an order that was sent to parliament in early September came into force on Friday.

"This order comes into force with immediate effect and will make belonging to the Wagner Group or actively supporting the group in the UK a criminal offence, with a potential jail sentence of 14 years which can be handed down alongside or in place of a fine," said a Home Office statement.

Other groups banned in the UK include Daesh/ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hizballah, and the PKK – a group responsible for the death of over 40,000 people in Türkiye.

Wagner has had a rising international profile in recent years through its deployment in such places as Africa, and its fighting in the 18-month-old Ukraine war.

Founded in 2014 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash on Aug. 23, Wagner staged a short-lived rebellion against the Russian government in June, marching towards Moscow before it turned its troops around.