U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Wagner Group as a transnational criminal organization

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has designated Russia’s Wagner Group as a significant transnational criminal organization and expanded its sanctions on the group and its backers.

“Today’s expanded sanctions on Wagner, as well as new sanctions on their associates and other companies enabling the Russian military complex, will further impede Putin’s ability to arm and equip his war machine,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

The new sanctions target individuals and companies associated with Wagner Group and a number of other companies in the Russian military-industrial complex, as well as several Putin cronies and major actors in Russia’s annexation of parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The U.S. Department of State announced concurrent sanctions on “a range of Wagner’s key infrastructure,” said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.