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The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognized the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization sponsored by Russia

In its declaration from July 4, 2023, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly recognized the terroristic nature of the Wagner military Group and the Russian Federation as the State sponsor of terrorism.

Photo: DBT / photothek

“The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly determines that the actions of the Wagner Group on behalf of the Russian Government can rightly be characterized as terroristic in nature and intent,” states the text of the declaration, which was published on the results of the summer session of the OSCE PA in Vancouver, Canada.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly encouraged OSCE participating States to reinforce international norms which “clearly recognize the terroristic nature of the Wagner Group and its actions, the responsibility of the Russian Federation as the State sponsor of said terrorist organization, and the inadmissibility of employing such actors in inter-State relations”.

The Parliamentary Assembly also denounced “the deliberate, systematic, and criminal atrocities and violations of human rights attributed to Wagner Group personnel” that they conducted participation in the war against Ukraine in the interests of the Russian Federation. Moreover, regarding the Belarusian government, the OSCE PA condemned their decision to construct a military base on its territory for the Wagner Group, saying that such actions endanger the entire region of the Baltic countries.

Furthermore, an MP of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Yevheniia Kravchuk, welcomed this historic decision and emphasized that it is the first time that the particular wording “the Russian Federation as the State sponsor of a terrorist organization” has been used in an official document of an international organization.

As previously reported, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution in which the Russian Federation was recognized as a terrorist regime in autumn 2022. At the same time, the European Parliament and a number of European countries have already recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In addition, earlier, such countries as Estonia, Lithuania, the USA, and Ukraine itself, recognized the Russian private military group “Wagner” as a criminal and terrorist organization, while the USA and Canada imposed sanctions against the organization.