The US will “very soon” announce actions to hold the Wagner Group accountable, the US said on Tuesday, although the move will be over the mercenary group’s prior activities in Africa and won’t be linked to the aborted mutiny in Russia over the weekend.
Addressing a regular press briefing on Tuesday, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “I would say in terms of this – the disposition of Yevgeniy Prigozhin, 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.”
Responding to a media query on whether Prigozhin should be declared persona non grata, and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko welcoming the Wagner chief to his land, Miller said, “I will just repeat what I said, which is that the decision by Lukashenko to welcome him to Belarus does show that he continues to take steps not in the interest of his own people but in the interest of the Kremlin.”
“I will say, I don’t have any United States assessment of the situation. As I said yesterday, and as Secretary Blinken said, on Sunday, everywhere where Wagner goes, death and destruction follow in their wake. 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.
He added that the US would continue to support Ukraine and its military 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 Defence 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.”
“And just as you will see actions from us in the very near future to hold Wagner accountable, you will see continued actions from us in the very near future to continue to supply the Ukrainian military with the equipment, the military equipment that it needs, to press their case on the battlefield,” he said during the State Department briefing on Tuesday.
Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has reached Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Tuesday, according to CNN.
With inputs from agencies
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