Page:Seventh Report - Guns for gold- the Wagner Network exposed.pdf/32

Rh '''Ministry of Defence confirmed the network’s long-suspected links to the Russian state. The brutality of its fighters in Ukraine is appalling but not atypical. So long as the network survives in some form, we believe that countries may still turn to it in future. Many leaders—mostly in insecure environments in Africa—are likely already to have known the price of engaging the network when they decided to work with it.'''

32. 'We recommend that the Government explicitly states that it opposes the co-operation of any country with the Wagner Network, or future iterations thereof, due to the security threats of the ‘Wagner model’ of business and governance. Where countries can be incentivised not to partner with the network or to re-engage after partnering with it, they should be. National governments that collude with the Wagner Network to breach UN sanctions, or that take no steps to protect their populations from Wagner-perpetrated atrocity crimes, should face financial and diplomatic consequences, where appropriate.'