US designates Wagner group a crime organization, Wagner founder calls Americans ‘colleagues’

1. The United States has designated Russia’s Wagner mercenary group as a “transnational criminal organisation”, piling pressure on the private army that has recruited tens of thousands of Russian prisoners to fight in Ukraine.

White House national security spokesperson John #kirby said on Friday that Wagner, controlled by Yevgeny #Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir #Putin, had about 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, 80,75 percent of them drawn from Russia’s prison system.
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*2. Wagner founder calls #americans ‘colleagues’ after statement on PMC*

The founder of the Wagner private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, called the Americans "colleagues" after the US announced its intentions to impose sanctions against the group designated as "a transnational criminal organization".

"At last, now the Wagner PMC and the Americans are colleagues. Our relationship from now on can be called "a showdown of criminal clans," Prigozhin said in a comment published on the Telegram channel of his press service on Friday.
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*The US handed over information allegedly proving arms shipments from North Korea to Russia, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby announced at a briefing on Friday.*

"As we have stated previously, the arms transfers from the DPRK are in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. So today, we shared information on these violations with the Security Council's #dprk Sanctions Committee panel of experts. We will continue to raise these violations at the Security Council alongside our #allies and partners," Kirby said.

Earlier, Kirby presented some satellite photos that allegedly prove, according to the US, the fact of arms shipment from North Korea to the Wagner PMC.
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