
The US Treasury Department on Thursday designated the Wagner Group, a Russian private mercenary organization heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, as a significant transnational criminal organization, and imposed a slew of sanctions on a transnational network that supports it.
The US Department of State concurrently announced a number of sanctions meant to “target a range of Wagner’s key infrastructure – including an aviation firm used by Wagner, a Wagner propaganda organization, and Wagner front companies,” according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Here are the actions taken by both US departments:
The State Department announced sanctions on the following:
- Three individuals for their roles as heads of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, which has been reported to facilitate the recruitment of Russian prisoners into the Wagner Group.
- A deputy prime minister who also serves as the Minister of Industry and Trade
- The chairman of the Election Commission of the Rostov Region.
- A network tied to an already-sanctioned Russian oligarch.
- A financier to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The department also announced it will take steps to impose visa restrictions “on 531 members of the Russian Federation military" associated with the assault on Ukraine.
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on the following:
- A number of individuals and companies tied to Moscow’s defense industrial complex.
- Putin allies and their family members.
- Two people involved with Russia’s attempts to annex parts of Ukraine.
The White House had previewed the significant transnational criminal organization designation and forthcoming sanctions against the Wagner group last week.