French MEPs call for Wagner to be classified by EU as a 'terrorist organisation'

The National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Russian paramilitary group to be listed as a "terrorist organization" on May 9, 2023. © AP

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French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in favor of the resolution calling for the Russian paramilitary group Wagner to be classified as a "terrorist organization." A quasi-unanimity in the face of the militia's actions in Ukraine, but also in Africa where French interests are directly targeted.

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The resolution adopted unanimously by the 331 deputies present. Mission accomplished for the rapporteur of the resolution, Renaissance MP Benjamin Haddad. Next step: the European Union. "The ambition is to be at the forefront of a European campaign to include the Wagner group on the European Union's list of terrorist groups," he said, interviewed by Aurélien Devernoix, of RFI's political department. This will really strengthen all the tools at our disposal. " and in particular more sanctions for companies linked to Wagner.

But it will be difficult to go beyond the symbolic aspect, says National Rally MP Franck Alisio. "We don't think this provision is a solution, but voting against it wouldn't have made sense." The RN therefore voted in favor of the text, as did La France insoumise. However, LFI MP Manuel Bompard would have liked to go further: "We do not have indignation with variable geometry. So all private military companies, when they have practices, especially in human rights, that are unacceptable, they must be condemned.

In his sights, the American paramilitary groups... Benjamin Haddad eludes: "I think it's different with Wagner, we are not in the case of a normal private company. It is a hybrid instrument that acts as an extension of Russia's foreign policy against our democracies.

In any case, the France joins Lithuania, which had already voted for this type of resolution, perhaps before Belgium, where a similar text was tabled by the ecologist parties.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the initiative, saying that "this is what the whole world must adopt." "Any manifestation of terrorism must be eliminated and any terrorist must be condemned," he said in his evening address.

► READ ALSO: Ukraine: Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner, accuses Russian soldiers of fleeing the fighting in Bakhmut

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Read on on the same topics:

• France
• French politics
• Terrorism
• European Union
• Russia