US designates Russia's mercenary Wagner Group 'transnational criminal organization'

The White House on Friday announced the U.S. was designating Russia's Wagner Group as a 'transnational criminal organization,' paving the way for fresh sanctions on mercenaries accused of war crimes in Ukraine.

'These actions recognize the transcontinental threat that Wagner poses, including through its ongoing pattern of serious criminal activity,' National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters.

'And there'll be more to come.'

The official designation will come from the Treasury, he said, with more sanctions to follow next week.

The White House released satellite photos that it said showed rockets being delivered to Russia's Wagner Group from North Korea

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby announced the designation at the White House on Friday, promising more sanctions to follow

The designation freezes any of Wagner's assets in the US and prohibits American citizens from providing funds or services. 

The announcement was accompanied by satellite images showing how on November 18, five Russian railway cars traveled from Russia to North Korea.

'And the next day November 19, North Korea loaded those rail cars with shipping containers and the train returned to Russia,' said Kirby. 

That was believed to be the first delivery of North Korean rockets to Wagner, he said.

Western officials have repeatedly said the Russia has turned increasingly to Wagner for manpower and weapons as its invasion faltered.

The company was founded in 2014 and is led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed 'Putin's chef.'

The Biden administration estimates that Wagner has deployed 50,000 people to Ukraine, including 40,000 convicts.

Mercenaries from the Wagner Group are fighting in Ukraine. The White House said it has 50,000 personnel there, of which 40,000 were recruited from prisons

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A view shows military uniform amid debris of a destroyed building purported to be a vocational college used as temporary accommodation for Russian soldiers

But that has lead to increasing tension between Wagner and the Russian Defense Ministry, which has become anxious at its reliance on prisoners and the way it has claimed battlefield victories for itself.

“Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries,” Kirby said, and the US has intelligence suggesting that the Russian Defense Ministry “has reservations” about Wagner’s heavy recruitment from Russian prisons. 

'Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries, publicly Prigozhin and his fighters have criticized Russian generals and defense officials for their performance on the battlefield. 

'Prigozhin is trying to advance his own interest in Ukraine and Wagner is making military decisions based largely largely on what they will generate for promotion ... In terms of positive publicity.'

Earlier this month, Progozhin — who earned his nickname because Putin would take visiting dignitaries to his restaurants — posed for photographs in a key battlefield.

He stood alongside his fighters in a Soledar salt pit as he claimed his mercenaries had taken control of the eastern Ukraine town, which has been razed by brutal fighting.

His claim triggered a quick response from the Russian army which insisted fighting for the town continued. 

It all added to questions about whether the Russian president had lost control of the Wagner warlord and his men, amid suggestions that Kremlin officials are growing dissatisfied with Putin's leadership.

The boss of the feared Wagner mercenary group has gloated to Ukraine by posing in a captured salt mine a the centre of a key battleground in the country (pictured)