Wagner Group: Mercenary unit declared as terrorist organisation in UK after leader Yevgeny Prigozhin killed in plane crash

Home secretary Suella Braverman said the groups work was a ‘threat to global security’.

Russian mercenary group Wagner is to be officially declared a terrorist group in the UK – two weeks after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and other senior members were killed in a plane crash in Russia.

A draft order to be laid in Parliament will make it illegal to be a member or support the organisation. Home secretary Suella Braverman said Wagner Group’s work in Ukraine and Africa was a "threat to global security" and a "military tool of Vladimir Putin’s Russia”.

She said: "Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals. They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law."

Journalists use their smartphones to take pictures and videos of the grave of Wagner private mercenary group military commander Dmitry Utkin, who was killed in a private jet crash in the Tver region last week, alongside the group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Since Mr Prigozhin’s death, the group looks likely to focus its attentions on Africa, where it had established itself as a protection force against uprisings from militants linked to Al-Qaeda and is working in countries including Mali, the Central African Republic and Syria.

Under terms of the Terrorism Act 2000, the UK home secretary is allowed to deem an organisation a terrorist body – something that previously was only allowed in relation to groups in Northern Ireland.

The proscription order makes it a criminal offence to support the group. Arranging meetings and displaying a logo or flag are also prohibited and could lead to 14 years in prison or a fine of up to £5,000.

Moves to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation have been underway for some months. Labour's shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has previously called for the Government to take the step.

He said today: "This is long overdue, but it's welcome the Government has finally acted. Now the Government should press for a Special Tribunal to prosecute [Russian president Vladimir] Putin for his crime of aggression."

The UK Government has previously imposed sanctions against the Wagner Group, including asset freezes against senior commanders.

Meanwhile, in July, MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the foreign affairs committee said: "Sanctions are not enough – the UK needs to proscribe the Wagner group for what it is: a terrorist organisation."

Founded in 2014, Wagner will now be added to a list of terrorist organisations alongside the likes of Hamas and Boko Haram.

In June, Wagner made a coup attempt against Mr Putin when Mr Prigozhin launched a march on Moscow and called for the removal of defence minister Sergei Shoigu. However, Mr Prigozhin quickly U-turned on the move and was said to have gone to Belarus, where his fighters would concentrate on training special forces there.

He had previously said Russia had ordered the paramilitary group to sign contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry – something Mr Prigozhin had refused to do. He had also claimed his fighters had been attacked by a Russian missile strike on a Wagner camp, killing up to 2,000 men.

However, days after apparently recording a video in Africa at the end of last month, the plane Mr Prigozhin was travelling in in Russia crashed, killing him and the group’s founder Dmitry Utkin, as well as Wagner logistics mastermind Valery Chekalov and other senior members.