According to Merrick Garland, it may not be worth making such an accusation before all the evidence is collected, but already now there are strong arguments. He also called “inconceivable” what PMC “Wagner” is doing in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, March 1, the head of the US Department of Justice, Attorney General Merrick Garland, called the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin a war criminal. It is reported by Yahoo.
At a Senate hearing, Garland said that the US Justice Department is assisting Ukraine in investigating war crimes that have been committed since the beginning of the Russian invasion, including by the semi-private paramilitary group Wagner.
“In my opinion, Prigozhin, who heads this thing, is a war criminal,” the prosecutor general said at a Senate hearing.
“Perhaps I should not make such an accusation before all the evidence is collected. But I think we already have more than enough substantial evidence,” he explained.
Garland called “inconceivable” what the PMC “Wagner” is doing, which is responsible for the attacks on Ukrainians in the Donbass. He also mentioned that the leaders of this group are recruiting prisoners from Russian prisons.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said Kyiv was investigating Prigozhin, while Garland said the US was helping Ukraine in this.
In January, the US officially recognized PMC Wagner as an international criminal organization, adding a group of mercenaries to the list with Italian mafia groups, Japanese and other Russian organized crime groups.
This decision makes it possible to impose large-scale sanctions against a group of mercenaries that conducts a wide range of operations around the world, including mercenarism and commercial activities on the African continent.
To top it off, US lawmakers are demanding that President Biden recognize PMC Wagner as a terrorist group.
In 2018, the US Department of Justice charged Prigozhin with interference in the US presidential election through the so-called “Internet Research Agency”, which is also controlled by Putin’s “cook”.
Focus previously reported that a Chinese company supplied Wagner PMC with satellite imagery. According to media reports, US Secretary of State spokesman Daniel Kritenbrick mentioned Spacety being blacklisted by the United States.
Subsequently, Prigozhin said that the Wagner PMC had its own satellites. Wagner mercenaries allegedly have been using 20 optical and radar spacecraft for a year and a half.
