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Guns for gold:the Wagner Network exposed
- a) the UK’s capacity for influence in a specific country;
- b) the level of security challenge faced by a country (in the short, medium and long term);
- c) the level of demand for a bilateral/multilateral security partnership within a country;
- d) the possible regional implications of the country’s ‘capture’ by a Russian or other malign proxy; and
- e) the level of willingness on both sides to uphold transparency and standards of good governance as part of any future partnership.
72. The Government should revive its previous commitment to channel 50% of Official Development Assistance to fragile and conflict-affected countries and regions. The Government should also revive its 2019 manifesto commitment to spending 0.7% of the UK’s Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance at the earliest opportunity, in light of refugee and asylum pressure in multiple countries
73. As a ‘stick’, the Government should proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organisation, recognising that—while there are risks of doing so—there are also risks of failing to do so, when the Network appears to meet the legal criteria.
