London, United Kingdom

Russian mercenary outfit Wagner Group is set to be banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation, as per media reports on Tuesday (September 5) which quoted Home Secretary Suella Braverman as saying.

The UK, under the country's anti-terror laws, is set to declare the Wagner Group a "proscribed" organisation which will place it at par with al-Qaeda and Islamic State, a report in the Daily Mail stated.

"Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin's Russia overseas," Braverman was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

"While Putin's regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals,” the minister added.

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The Terrorism Act 2000 has bestowed power to the home secretary to proscribe an organisation they believe is involved in terrorism. After a proscription order is issued, supporting the group becomes a criminal offence.

"They are terrorists, plain and simple - and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law," the minister was quoted in a BBC report as saying. "Wagner has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders," Braverman stated, as reported by the Daily Mail.

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The group's operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa "are a threat to global security. That is why we are proscribing this terrorist organisation and continuing to aid Ukraine wherever we can in its fight against Russia,” she said.

Draft measures to be tabled in Parliament

Draft measures for banning the Wagner Group, in accordance with the act, will be tabled in the Parliament on Wednesday (September 6), said the reports.

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In July, sanctions were announced against 13 businesses and individuals in Britain who were said to have links with Russian groups in Africa and were accused of crimes that included torture and killings.

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The entities and people accused were not able to deal with UK citizens, companies and banks, and get access to any assets that were frozen in the UK and were alleged to have been involved in the activities of the Wagner in Mali, Sudan and Central African Republic (CAR).

The people include Wagner's purported head in Mali Ivan Aleksandrovitch Maslov; its chief in CAR Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev and the operation head of the group Konstantin Aleksandrovitch Pikalov.

(With inputs from agencies)

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