US State Department Warns Of Measures Against Prigozhin and Wagner Group

WASHINGTON: The United States said on Tuesday that measures will soon be announced by Washington against Yevgeniy Prigozhin- led Wagner group for its earlier activities in Africa.

The announcement was made during a regular press briefing on Tuesday by US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. He said regarding the disposition of Yevgeniy Prigozhin that he's under indictment in the United States. “We would like to see him here standing trial for the crimes that he is alleged to have committed," Miller said.

On whether Prigozhin ought to be declared persona non grata and the welcome to his land extended by Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to the Wagner chief, Miller responded by saying that he will just repeat what he said, that Lukashenko’s decision to welcome Prigozhin to Belarus showed that he continued to take steps which were not regarded to be in the interest of his own people but in the interest of Russia.

Emphatic that he did not have any United States assessment of the situation, Miller repeated his earlier assertion and echoed Secretary Blinken’s statement on Sunday, to say that everywhere the Wagner Group went, they were followed by death and destruction. “So, the decision by Prez Lukashenko to welcome Prigozhin to Belarus, I think is another example of him choosing the interest of Vladimir Putin and choosing the interest of the Kremlin over the Belarusian people," said Miller.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Tuesday that Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has reached Belarus. Lukashenko was also condemned by the US State Department for welcoming the Wagner chief to his country.

During the State Department briefing on Tuesday, Miller added that the US will continue to support Ukraine and its military’s attempts to repel the Russian troops. "In terms of what's next, on this, to be continued US support for Ukraine and continued US support for the Ukrainian military's work to repel Russian troops, whether they be Ministry of Defense troops, or whether they be Wagner forces, or whether they be whatever the next iteration, if any, of Wagner forces, look like to repel those forces from Ukraine's borders," he said.

Continuing his address, Miller said that actions from the US could be aimed in the very near future at holding Wagner accountable. He also repeated that continued actions will be seen from them in the near future to supply the Ukrainian military with the military equipment that it needs, to bolster their efforts on the battlefield.

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