(Ottawa) The House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion on Monday asking the Trudeau government to “immediately” designate the Wagner Group, these shadow mercenaries associated with the regime of Vladimir Putin, as a terrorist entity.
The unanimously endorsed motion was tabled by New Democrat Heather McPherson. “The Wagner Group threatens international security, civil life and democracy. The government must do the right thing and hold them to account,” she said in a statement.
“They have committed unspeakable war crimes and must be designated as a terrorist entity to deter countries and others from collaborating with the group to commit further atrocities,” added the Alberta NDP MP.
M’s approachme McPherson follows the designation last Thursday by the United States of this military company owned by the mysterious Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin as a “transnational criminal organization”.
In the office of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, the custodian of the Canadian government’s list of terrorist entities, spokeswoman Audrey Champoux noted that there was “no Canadian equivalent to the designation […] transnational criminal organization”.
However, the government has “imposed sanctions on the organization and its owner”, she added.
” Politics ”
National security expert Jessica Davis sees it as a largely symbolic gesture.
“It’s politics, it has no value, no impact,” she summarizes in an interview – especially since the designation of terrorist entities is an independent process, insists the president of the Insight Threat group. Intelligence located in Ottawa.
The Wagner Group does not really exist as an entity, she underlines: it is a “constellation of companies and individuals”. And if Canada really wanted to hurt Prigojine and his mercenaries, it would devote resources to identifying this network, in collaboration with its allies, concludes Mr.me Davis.
Nevertheless, the ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, Yulia Kovaliv, was delighted. “As the world witnesses the crimes committed by the Wagner Group in Ukraine and other places around the world, it is time to [le] designate as a terrorist organization,” she tweeted.
Founded in 2014 during the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia, the Wagner Group has interfered in several conflicts around the world, including in Syria, Mali, Libya and the Central African Republic. It is his activities in Ukraine that are obviously getting a lot of attention these days.