Senators face setback in labeling Wagner a terrorist organization

Senators intent on labeling Russia’s Wagner group a foreign terrorist organization faced a roadblock Thursday as legislation directing such action failed to advance out of a committee markup.

While Democrats and Republicans have offered support for labeling Wagner as a terrorist group, it is opposed by the White House over concern that giving Wagner such a broad sanction would harm U.S. relations with, in particular, African countries that employ it as a private security firm. 

That argument has resonated with a bipartisan group of senators. 

“I think we need to hold the Wagner group accountable for the crimes that they’re doing, and we just need to make sure that what we’re doing does not have unintended consequences,” Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) told The Hill when asked if he supported the text. 

The bill, the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act, was tabled by an unnamed senator, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) announced at the start of the markup meeting.

Menendez said he hoped to bring up the HARM Act and another bill related to negotiating a tax agreement with Taiwan during a June 21 markup. 

The legislation will have to overcome criticisms by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), in particular, who share concerns by the White House that imposing strict sanctions such as the terrorist designation on Wagner would block U.S. officials from talking with African leaders who employ Wagner.

The private military company holds a long list of accusations of grievous atrocities against civilians in African countries, where it is often hired to supplement those countries’ weak militaries. But its notoriety has increased with its controversial role on the frontline in Russia’s war on Ukraine. 

The outfit, led by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, is accused of employing brutal tactics of human wave attacks, trying to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with bodies, accused of torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war and other allegations of war crimes.

The Biden administration in January labeled Wagner a transnational criminal organization, an effort to siphon off the group’s revenue streams. The U.S. sanctioned the head of the Wagner group in Mali last month for trying to source weapons through the African country for use in Ukraine. 

Coons told The Hill that conversations surrounding the language of the bill text are happening only between supporters, like legislation co-sponsor Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and members who are concerned. 

“This is an issue that deserves more thorough conversation so that those of us who see Wagner’s broadscale, harmful, pernicious, terrible impact on a half dozen countries are confident we are doing everything we can to counter them,” he said. 

Booker, rushing to leave the Senate floor late Thursday afternoon, was reluctant to address questions over his concerns about the HARM Act.  

“It’s a much longer conversation,” he told The Hill as he tried to push through a locked door.

“Something I’ll talk to you about when we get back next week, if you’re interested.”