The National Assembly on Tuesday adopted a motion for a resolution aimed “to call on France and the European Union to include the Wagner militia on the list of terrorist organizations”.
“The abuses of the Wagner group must be qualified for what they are, that is to say terrorist acts.” The National Assembly adopted a motion for a resolution on Tuesday, May 9, aimed at having Paris and the European Union include the Russian paramilitary group on the list of terrorist organizations.
Worn by the Renaissance deputy Benjamin Haddad and co-signed by deputies from the majority, but also from the socialist, environmentalist and LR ranksthis text recalls the “acts of barbarism” Russian militia in Syria, “support for the authoritarian regime of Bashar Al-Assad in its violent repression following the 2011 uprising”. MEPs also return to the actions of Russian paramilitaries in Africa, in particular their “multiple abuses” in the Central African Republic or in Mali. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Wagner takes an active part in the fighting and is accused of multiple war crimes, such as the bombardment of inhabited localities, acts of torture and sexual violence or even summary executions”, they continue.
For the signatory MEPs, with this decision, “the authorities of European countries and their partners will be able to impose reinforced control and sanction measures on the leaders, members and supporters of this private military entity, by freezing its assets, limiting their international travel or even more severely repressing their actions. .
“A signal to Brussels” and a symbolic significance
As the site of the National Assembly specifies, the resolutions have no “not in law the general character of a law”. This type of text can be used to modify the rules of a meeting or to “a declaration relating to a draft act of the European Union”. The proposal put forward by Benjamin Haddad aims to “send a signal to Brussels, to call on the Member States to take a decision along the same lines”, deciphers Marie Robin, post-doctoral researcher at the Thucydide center of the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas. For the specialist in questions of terrorism and propaganda, this text is “a first step that will allow the initiation of slightly more official negotiations”.
Because “it is in Brussels that the mechanisms really come into play”, she continues. In fact, EU Member States can propose the inclusion of individuals or groups on the European list of terrorist organisations, but a procedure is then set in motion: a preparatory body of the Council of the European Union, the group “Restrictive measures to combat terrorism” (Comet), “examines and evaluates information with a view to listing or delisting” from this list. “He then makes recommendations to the Council”, says the Council of the EU. The institution must then adopt these “amendments to be made to the list”.
“Dfrom a strictly legal point of view”, Wagner’s inclusion on this list “would have no direct additional effect”, conceded in the hemicycle the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna. Nevertheless, “we must not underestimate the symbolic importance of such a designation, nor the dissuasive character” of this decision for States seduced by Wagner.
A group already sanctioned by the EU
The Russian militia is already subject to sanctions within the EU. At the end of 2021, it implemented a series of measures against the organization and against eight people and three entities with links to the paramilitaries. All have since been sanctioned by a freezing of their assets within the EU, as well as a ban on entry into the European Union. EU citizens and organizations are also prohibited “to make funds available to those on the list”, recalls Brussels.
This year, the EU again targeted 11 new individuals and seven organizations linked to Wagner, who have since been subject to the same sanctions. These include commanders who have acted in Ukraine, or members of the militia in Mali or the Central African Republic. In April, the Council added the militia “to the list of entities subject to EU restrictive measures due to actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”. This is also about freezing assets and prohibiting EU citizens and companies from offering funds to the group.
Financial penalties…
If the Wagner group ended up being considered a terrorist organisation, it would be liable to the sanctions provided for by a common position of the Council of 27 December 2001, as “the freezing of funds and other financial assets or economic resources” persons and entities considered to be terrorists. It is also about ensuring “that funds, financial assets or economic resources, or financial or other related services are not, directly or indirectly, made available” actors identified as terrorists.
With this qualification, “if we apply the same thing as for the Islamic State group, for example, we extend the scope of the financial products targeted”, says Marie Robin. “We will probably cast a wider net, see who is linked to Wagner, who does business with the group”, adds Elizabeth Sheppard-Sellam, mistress of lectures at the University of Tours.
“If Wagner becomes a terrorist group, even companies that can do business with him can be sanctioned. It’s not just at European level, they can be prosecuted at national level too.”
Elizabeth Sheppard-Sellam, director of the international relations and politics program at the University of Toursat franceinfo
According to her, any type of financial product could be targeted. Financial flows involving European citizens, even if they take place outside the EU, could also be targeted. Nevertheless, these sanctions could have a limited effect, because there are “a whole aspect that we do not control” in group financing in Russia.
…and stricter measures against propaganda
The 2001 common position also specifies that in the face of organizations qualified as terrorists, “Member States mutually agree, through the police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (…)support as broadly as possible to prevent and combat acts of terrorism”. For Marie Robin, classifying Wagner as a terrorist organization would make it possible, in the fight against this group, to involve “new supranational actors” such as the agency European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex) or theEuropean Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol).
The inclusion on the European list of terrorist organizations would also have a strong stake in the fight against propaganda, continues the researcher. According to a European regulation of April 2021, national authorities within the EU can force platforms disseminating terrorist content to remove it in less than an hour, or to block it throughout the EU. All hosts offering their services in Europe are concerned. Wagner’s propaganda content, if considered terrorist, would therefore be more closely regulated.