INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States on Friday designated Russia's Wagner mercenary group a "transnational criminal organization," piling pressure on the
private Russian army fighting in Ukraine.White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a
businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, has about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, 80% of them drawn from prisons.Kirby showed U.S
intelligence photographs of North Korea supplying arms to Wagner for its Ukraine operations, and said the private army has become a rival to
the formal Russian military.The photographs, from Nov
18-19, show Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up a load of infantry rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia, he said
Treasury was formally designating Wagner as a transnational criminal organization, putting it on the same level as Italian mafia groups and
Japanese and Russian organized crime syndicates.The designation will allow the wider application of sanctions on the group's sprawling
global network, which includes mercenary operations as well as businesses in Africa and elsewhere.Wagner "is a criminal organization that is
committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses," Kirby said."We will work relentlessly to identify, disrupt, expose and target
those who are assisting Wagner."Kirby also said the U.S
had presented its intelligence on Wagner's North Korean purchase to the United Nations Security Council's unit on North Korea sanctions.The
arms transfers from North Korea are in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions, Kirby said.Kirby said there is evidence that
power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries," Kirby said."Prigozhin is trying to advance his own interest in Ukraine
and Wagner is making military decisions based largely on what they will generate for Prigozhin, in terms of positive publicity."Prigozhin
has claimed credit for Russian advances over several months towards the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut, including the capture last week of
in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.Wagner fighters are tough and disciplined, Prigozhin says, but are brutally punished if they
flee the battle.But his infighting with other officials in the Kremlin could be hurting him.According to the U.S
Institute for the Study of War, Putin "is increasingly siding with" Prigozhin's rivals in high-level power circles.Putin has also not
the re-emerging professional Russian military and Russian government officials," the group said Thursday.Known as "Putin's chef" for having
catered events for the Russian strongman since both were in St
Petersburg in the 1990s, Prigozhin, 61, has been in U.S
Justice Department in 2018 for interference in the U.S
his companies are also under U.S
and European sanctions for various activities.
