[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 111 (Tuesday, June 16, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3013-S3014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 624--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
 ACTIVITIES OF RUSSIAN NATIONAL YEVGENIY PRIGOZHIN AND HIS AFFILIATED 
 ENTITIES POSE A THREAT TO THE NATIONAL INTEREST AND NATIONAL SECURITY 
                          OF THE UNITED STATES

  Mr. COONS (for himself and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 624

       Whereas Yevgeniy Prigozhin is a Russian national who has 
     maintained close personal ties with Russian Federation 
     President Vladimir Putin since the early 2000s;
       Whereas Yevgeniy Prigozhin is the presumed financier of the 
     Wagner Group, also known as the Private Military Company 
     (PMC) Wagner, a Russian mercenary organization staffed by 
     current and former military and intelligence officers, and is 
     the financier of the Internet Research Agency and other 
     organizations engaged in online influence operations;
       Whereas entities such as Wagner have been linked to the 
     Government of the Russian Federation and are used to conduct 
     military action, subversive operations, and disinformation 
     campaigns on the Government's behalf while giving it an 
     appearance of plausible deniability;

[[Page S3014]]

       Whereas the Wagner Group was involved in the Russian 
     Federation's military takeover and illegal annexation of 
     Ukraine's Crimea region in February and March 2014, and in 
     the subsequent insurgencies in the eastern Ukrainian regions 
     of Donetsk and Luhansk;
       Whereas the Wagner Group has been providing military 
     support to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria since 2015, 
     fighting alongside its forces and helping it recapture 
     significant parts of the country;
       Whereas, on February 7, 2018, the Wagner Group led an armed 
     assault on United States troops near the city of Deir al-Zour 
     in eastern Syria, prompting a United States counterattack, in 
     what the Washington Post has described as ``the deadliest 
     United States-Russia clash since the Cold War'';
       Whereas the Wagner Group has supported Khalifa Haftar and 
     his ``Libyan National Army'' by providing mercenaries, 
     artillery, tanks, drones, and ammunition in violation of a 
     United Nations arms embargo, with Yevgeniy Prigozhin 
     personally attending a meeting between Haftar and Russian 
     Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on November 7, 2018;
       Whereas a United Nations report made public on May 6, 2020, 
     concluded that the Wagner Group has operated up to 1,200 
     military contractors in Libya, including snipers and 
     specialized military teams, serving ``as an effective force 
     multiplier'' for Haftar's army;
       Whereas Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his affiliated entities have 
     been tied to influence operations on behalf of the Government 
     of the Russian Federation in Africa, with entities associated 
     with Prigozhin reportedly operating in at least 20 countries, 
     including the Central African Republic, Madagascar, 
     Mozambique, and Sudan;
       Whereas about 235 Russian military and private security 
     personnel have deployed to the Central African Republic since 
     2017, some of whom are reportedly employed by the Wagner 
     Group, and some of whom provide personal security for 
     President Faustin-Archange Touadera;
       Whereas Russian national Valery Zakharov, who is reportedly 
     a former intelligence official, has served as a top national 
     security advisor to Central African Republic President 
     Faustin-Archange Touadera since at least 2018;
       Whereas, in July 2018, Russian journalists Orkhan Dzhemal, 
     Kirill Radchenko, and Alexander Rastorguyev were murdered in 
     the Central African Republic while working on a documentary 
     about the activities of the Wagner Group in that country;
       Whereas neither the Government of the Central African 
     Republic nor the Government of the Russian Federation are 
     conducting credible and thorough investigations into the 
     murder of these 3 journalists;
       Whereas, according to an investigation by the London-based 
     Dossier Center, the journalists had been tracked by officers 
     of the Central African Republic gendarmerie who were in close 
     communication with Russian nationals with ties to Prigozhin, 
     including Alexander Sotov, who in turn was reportedly in 
     contact with Zakharov;
       Whereas companies owned by Yevgeniy Prigozhin reportedly 
     had made regular payments to senior Central African Republic 
     officials, including the Police Chief and the Minister of 
     National Security;
       Whereas, on December 20, 2016, the Department of the 
     Treasury designated Yevgeniy Prigozhin under Executive Order 
     13661, ``Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing 
     to the Situation in Ukraine,'' ``for having materially 
     assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or 
     technological support for, or goods or services in support 
     of, senior officials of the Russian Federation'';
       Whereas, on June 20, 2017, the Department of the Treasury 
     designated the Wagner Group under Executive Order 13660, 
     ``Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the 
     Situation in Ukraine,'' ``for being responsible for or 
     complicit in, or having engaged in, directly or indirectly, 
     actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, 
     stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of 
     Ukraine'';
       Whereas, on March 15, 2018, the Department of the Treasury 
     designated Yevgeniy Prigozhin, his affiliated entities, 
     including the Internet Research Agency, and his subordinates 
     under Executive Order 13694, ``Blocking the Property of 
     Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-
     Enabled Activities,'' for being ``involved in interfering 
     with [United States] election processes or institutions'';
       Whereas, on February 16, 2018, the Department of Justice 
     announced the indictment of Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his 
     affiliated entities, including the Internet Research Agency, 
     for engaging in ``operations to interfere with the United 
     States political system, including the 2016 United States 
     presidential election'' and conducting ``information 
     warfare'' against the United States;
       Whereas, on September 20, 2018, the Department of State 
     added Prigozhin, his affiliated entities, including the 
     Internet Research Agency, and the Wagner Group to the list of 
     persons identified as part of, or operating for or on behalf 
     of, the defense or intelligence sectors of the Government of 
     the Russian Federation under section 231 of the Countering 
     America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9525);
       Whereas, on September 30, 2019, under Executive Order 
     13848, the Department of the Treasury took additional steps 
     to increase pressure on Prigozhin by designating physical 
     assets--3 aircraft and a yacht--and 3 associated front 
     companies of his;
       Whereas, on February 15, 2019, Gavin Williamson, then-
     United Kingdom Defense Secretary, said that the ``clandestine 
     use of proxies, mercenary armies like the infamous and 
     unaccountable Wagner Group, allows the Kremlin to get away 
     with murder while denying the blood on their hands'';
       Whereas, on December 13, 2018, John Bolton, then-Assistant 
     to the President for National Security Affairs, affirmed that 
     ``the predatory practices pursued by China and Russia. . . in 
     Africa. . . pose a significant threat to United States 
     national security interests''; and
       Whereas General Stephen J. Townsend, Commander of the 
     United States Africa Command, on April 2, 2019, expressed 
     great ``concern'' about the Wagner group, and, on January 30, 
     2020, noted that private military contractors such as Wagner, 
     are ``leading the fight in Libya against the UN-backed and 
     U.S.-recognized Government of National Accord'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the activities of Russian national Yevgeniy Prigozhin, 
     his affiliated entities, and the Wagner Group pose a threat 
     to the national interests and national security of the United 
     States; and
       (2) the President, in addition to maintaining sanctions on 
     Yevgeniy Prigozhin, his affiliated entities, and the Wagner 
     Group, should work with Congress to develop and execute a 
     strategy drawing on the multiple instruments of United States 
     national power available to the President, to counter the 
     malign influence and activities of Prigozhin, the entities 
     linked to him, and the Wagner Group.

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