The US Congress has prepared new “grounds” for sanctions against Prigozhin

In another resolution, members of the US House of Representatives and Senate call businessman from St. Petersburg Yevgeny Prigozhin a threat to the national security of the United States and “justify” the reasons for introducing new sanctions against him.

American legislators are also calling on the Trump administration, together with Congress, to develop a strategy to counter the activity of entrepreneur Prigozhin.

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The Federal News Agency decided to find out what he was accused of again.

The United States is currently rocked by unrest caused by the death of George Floyd as a result of harsh police custody. Governors of 28 states are forced to turn to the National Guard for help to suppress pogroms and excesses of marauding crowds.

Many settlements in the United States have actually been taken under the control of armed gangs who have proclaimed their own power in them. The spirit of civil war is clearly felt in America today. Despite this, representatives of the US political establishment became preoccupied with searching for an external enemy.

Democrat Chris Coons and Republican Marco Rubio introduced a draft resolution in the Senate calling on the Donald Trump administration to work with Congress to develop a strategy to counter Yevgeny Prigozhin. This is not the first time that Russians are being carefully molded into the image of “universal evil,” apparently in order to divert the attention of the American public from the country’s internal problems. Once again, Russia and Yevgeny Prigozhin, as its citizen, are blamed for everything.

A similar document was sent to the House of Representatives, which indicates a “serious” approach.

This resolution was at the disposal of the Federal News Agency. Here is its translation.

116th Congress

2nd session

1.RES. 996

Expressing the view of the Congress that the activities of Russian citizen Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates pose a threat to the national interests and security of the United States of America and its allies and partners.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

11 June 2020 year

Mr. Engel (on behalf of Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Keating and Mr. Kinzinger) introduced the following resolution, which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

RESOLUTION

Expressing the view of the Congress that the activities of Russian citizen Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates pose a threat to the national interests and security of the United States and its allies and partners.

While Yevgeny Prigozhin is a Russian citizen who has maintained close personal ties with President Vladimir Putin since the early 2000s;

While Yevgeny Prigozhin is the patron and sponsor of the Wagner Group, also known as the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), a Russian mercenary organization staffed by current and former military and intelligence officers, and the Internet Research Agency (IRA), an organization dedicated to online operations -influence;

While Ira conducted online information operations against the United States in an attempt to sow division and discord among the American electorate, as well as the electorates of our European allies and partners;

While organizations funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin were used by the government of the Russian Federation to conduct military operations, subversive operations and disinformation campaigns on his behalf, creating the appearance of plausible deniability;

Whereas the Wagner Group participated in the Russian Federation's military invasion and illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea in February and March 2014, as well as subsequent insurgencies in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk;

While the Wagner Group has provided military support to the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria since 2015, fighting alongside its forces and helping them retake large parts of the country;

Whereas, on February 7, 2018, the Wagner Group led an armed attack on United States troops near the city of Deir ez-Zour in eastern Syria, provoking a United States counterattack in what has been described as “the deadliest U.S.-Russian clash since the Cold War ”;

While the Wagner Group supported Khalifa Haftar and his “Libyan National Army” by providing mercenaries, artillery, tanks, drones and ammunition, Yevgeny Prigozhin personally attended Haftar’s meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on November 7, 2018;

While a United Nations report released on May 6, 2020 concluded that the Wagner Group operated up to 1200 military contractors in Libya, including snipers and specialized military teams, serving as an “effective force multiplier” for Haftar's army.

While Wagner Group mercenaries were deployed to Venezuela in January 2019 to support the regime of Nicolas Maduro in the face of popular protests against his rule;

While Evgeniy Prigozhin and his subsidiaries led operations to influence political processes in Africa on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation in a number of countries, including Madagascar, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe;

Whereas, the Wagner Group has deployed mercenaries in the Central African Republic since 2018 and has provided security for the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archangel Touadera, including Russian citizen Valery Zakharov, a former Security Service official with close ties to the Wagner Group, who serves as National Security Advisor ;

Whereas on July 31, 2018, Russian journalists Orkhan Dzhemal, Kirill Radchenko and Alexander Rastorguev were killed in the Central African Republic while working on a documentary about the activities of the Wagner Group in that country;

Whereas, according to an investigation by the London Dossier Centre, the journalists were monitored by Central African Republic gendarmerie officers who maintained close contacts with Russian citizens associated with the Wagner group, including Valery Zakharov and Alexander Sotov;

While associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin were reported to have discussed plans to create camps “for combat training and preparation for sabotage” with the aim of inciting racial violence and carrying out domestic terrorist attacks in the United States ahead of the November 3, 2020 presidential elections;

While associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin have created online influence operations based in Ghana and Nigeria to target social media audiences in the United States with the aim of inflaming racial tensions and inciting social unrest in the lead-up to the November 3, 2020 presidential elections;

Whereas, on December 20, 2016, the Department of the Treasury designated Evgeniy Prigozhin pursuant to Executive Order No. 13661 “to block the property of additional persons contributing to the development of the situation in Ukraine” for having “materially assisted, sponsored or provided financial, material or technological support, goods or services in support of senior officials of the Russian Federation.”;

Whereas, on June 20, 2017, the Department of the Treasury designated the Wagner Group under Executive Order 13660 to “block the property of certain persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine” for “being responsible for or complicit in actions or policies that directly or indirectly threaten peace, security, stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine.”;

Whereas, on March 15, 2018, the Department of the Treasury designated Evgeniy Prigozhin, its subsidiaries, including the Internet Research Agency, and its subordinates under Executive Order No. 13694 “blocking the property of certain individuals engaged in significant malicious cyber activity,” for that they “engaged in interference with [US] electoral processes or institutions”; And

While current and former administration officials have argued that Yevgeny Prigozhin's malign activities around the world pose a significant threat to the national security interests of the United States: now, therefore, so be it

Resolved that the House of Representatives -

1) Condemns any and all attempts by the Government of the Russian Federation and its proxies to exert a detrimental influence on the domestic policies of other countries and to sow division between their peoples, especially the United States and its allies and partners;

(2) condemns the activities of Russian citizen Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates that pose a threat to the democratic values ​​and security of the United States, its allies and partners;

(3) urges countries that have business or advisory ties with Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates to cease those ties;

(4) calls for serious consideration of imposing additional sanctions against Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates for their continued interference in the democratic processes of the United States and in the democratic processes of the United States' allies and partners;

(5) urges our European Union partners to seriously consider adopting similar sanctions regimes against Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates for their continued interference in the internal politics of European Union member states; And

6) Calls for close coordination between the United States Government and the governments of the United States' allies and partners to ensure that sanctions regimes against Yevgeny Prigozhin and his affiliates are tightly coordinated.