The cross-party draft resolution calling on the France and the European Union to include the Russian private paramilitary group Wagner on the list of terrorist organizations is expected to be voted without a hitch in the National Assembly on Tuesday, May 9. Such a ranking, explains the deputy of Paris Benjamin Haddad (Renaissance), the president of the France-Ukraine friendship group that carries the text, would make it possible to target the financial support of the galaxy of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the company.
What is the point of officially listing the Wagner Group as "terrorist"?
BENJAMIN HADDAD. There are two objectives. The first, political, is to reaffirm the nature of this group, which promotes instability. The second is to equip ourselves with strengthened control tools. The ranking will make it possible, with our American allies, to increase the means to block the financial flows that irrigate the company, to put pressure on the institutions, companies, banks that work with them: to draw inspiration from the legislation on criminal association at European level.
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Is Wagner a threat to France?
Yes. We know that Wagner is part of a global policy of fighting against democratic values and against the interests of Western countries: he is not a simple group of mercenaries attracted by greed. The group has made France its number one enemy in French-speaking Africa. Attempts at interference were spotted during the 2017 presidential campaign and the France is regularly targeted by cyber attacks, most often related to Russia.
What are the responses to these attempts at destabilization?
There are several. Support for Ukraine, through the delivery of arms, is one of them. The military programming law plans to increase resources in the cyber and intelligence fields. Finally, at the political level, we are campaigning to strengthen the tools at European level. Lithuania passed a resolution to that effect, and the US Senate also held a debate on the subject. I believe that if the France vote for this resolution, other parliaments in Europe will follow.
