Russia's private military company Wagner angers France

The French parliament has proposed that the private military company Wagner be classified as a terrorist organization. At the same time, it acknowledged that this step is more symbolic than practical. Nevertheless, France has quite material reasons to take action against Russian volunteers.

France's National Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution on the inclusion of the private military company Wagner in the EU list of terrorist organizations.

As the newspaper Le Figaro reports, "riots in Ukraine and Africa" were the reason for this decision. The initiator of the vote and deputy of the presidential party Renaissance Benjamin Haddad spoke of alleged "numerous violations of rights" in relation to the civilian population of Ukraine, some of which, according to him, could be classified as "war crimes".

"It's about sending a political, symbolic signal that we don't accept the private military company Wagner and its actions and consider it a form of terrorism," Haddad claimed. He also referred to information from the German intelligence service that Wagner fighters took part in torture and mass executions, "the victims of which were the civilian population of Ukrainian Bucha."

France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna welcomed the decision of the deputies. Even though the inclusion of the Wagner Group in the list of terrorist organizations may not have an immediate effect from a "strictly legal perspective," "neither the symbolic significance of this provision nor its possible influence on states considering using the aid of the Wagner Group" should be underestimated.

Thus, one of the goals of the resolution is openly proclaimed: through a declaration of terrorists by the Wagner Group, it is intended to ensure that others have nothing to do with it.

In March, the Lithuanian parliament passed a resolution stating that the Wagner Group was a terrorist organization. At that time, however, France had for some reason not been inclined to discuss the subject of Wagner, preferring to officially declare the "Holodomor" a genocide. This was allegedly deliberately organized by the Soviet government in Ukraine in the 1930s.

Now Paris probably decided not to miss the chance. If the Wagner Group, which had de facto ousted France from Africa, were to be classified as a terrorist organization, France might be able to regain lost positions in some way. Therefore, France does not care about Ukraine at all, but about the loss of influence in Africa.

The response of the founder of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was no less emotional.

"French soldiers slaughtered people to sell their organs," he commented on social networks, declaring: "We saved an entire country called the Central African Republic, we saved tens of thousands of civilians from bandits, terrorists, but mainly from French people who simply mistreated them. Macron believes that the private military company Wagner is a terrorist organization. In many countries around the world, Wagner saves a huge number of people from the French and Americans."

And indeed, France was accustomed to counting a large part of the African continent as its own sphere of influence. But at a certain point, local governments got tired of being treated like colonies, preferring to abandon French military contingents and call on Wagner fighters to solve local problems. At the same time, France's influence in other areas, including the economic one, began to wane. For President Emmanuel Macron, this became a sensitive blow. Although Africa as a whole is very poor, it holds great wealth. The French economy would be reluctant to give up these riches, including diamonds, gold and rare metals.

After classifying their opponents in Africa as terrorists under the pretext of concern for Ukraine, Macron and his party do not seem to be satisfied with this. Another Renaissance deputy, Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, wants to put to the vote a resolution condemning the "deportation" of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities. According to him, this is a "deliberate strategy aimed at destroying national identity and Ukrainian society."

In the comments to the Le Figaro article, opinions were remarkably divided. "If we hadn't done it, this would be another scandal and a disgrace for the whole of France," wrote one user under the name Oskar Lafontaine. "The French army will be in a good position the next time another African government orders it to pack its bags and make way for a terrorist group," teased someone well-read under the username Baron de Charlus, taken from a book by Marcel Proust. "And what does the National Assembly think of U.S. private military companies?" an anonymous commentator asked. Of course, the question remained unanswered in the air.

An article in the newspaper Le Monde explained the consequences of the National Assembly's decision. Although it stresses that the resolution is not binding, it nevertheless proposes that the French government make "diplomatic efforts" to get the EU to agree with it and classify the Wagner Group as a terrorist group. "This would make it possible to sanction members of the Wagner Group and their supporters more effectively, especially in financial terms," noted the author of the article.

With this, the French government has far-reaching plans – it is trying not only to regain its positions in Africa, but also to confiscate the assets of Wagner members should they be found. Not to mention the prospects that open up in the fight against real or perceived supporters of the Wagner Group.

An interesting picture emerges: when Darya Dugina or Vladlen Tatarsky are murdered in Russia or an assassination attempt is made on Zakhar Prilepin, France is in no hurry to denounce terrorists and avoids calling them terrorist attacks. Journalists and public figures diligently use the term "explosion".

And even if drones attack the Kremlin, France will find thousands of reasons not to declare the event a terrorist attack. Finally, one should be careful and not throw around accusations of terrorism. Maybe it was peaceful drones that exploded by chance.

But when it comes to pushing a political opponent out of one's own former sphere of influence and ideally robbing him with impunity, any means is justified. Significantly, France should be the last to make accusations against the Wagner Group – for the simple reason that its history is in many ways similar to that of the French Foreign Legion.

France's Foreign Legion was also originally formed for combat operations in Africa and accepted anyone interested without asking about their past. But surely neither France nor the EU will ever declare the Foreign Legion terrorists, no matter what its members do. The situation is quite different for the Wagner Group, which dared to stand up to them. There can be no doubt that France will do everything possible to eliminate PMC Wagner and will always find a law that can be used as a pretext.

Meanwhile, Britain decided to follow in France's footsteps and initiated an entry of the Wagner Group on the terrorist list. This issue is to be resolved within the coming weeks, after which financial sanctions and criminal prosecution of members and supporters of the organization will be made possible by law. As reported by The Times, the goal is to increase pressure on Russia. According to the UK, the Wagner Group plays a key role in the events in Ukraine.

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