The Seimas of Lithuania unanimously voted to recognize Wagner PMC as a terrorist organization. Information about this is published on the government website.
The Lithuanian authorities have accused Wagner PMCs of committing systematic crimes on the territory of Ukraine, in particular, killing and torturing civilians, bombing houses and other civilian objects. In addition, the Seimas also condemned the use of any other mercenary groups created with the support of the Russian authorities to commit crimes of aggression in Ukraine, and called on other countries to adopt a similar document.
The decision of the Seimas states that the Wagner PMC, founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, «is a shady tool» and receives a lot of support from the Russian government. According to one of the authors of the resolution, Laurynas Kasciunas, groups like Wagner PMCs can carry out operations against Lithuania as well.
“It is important for us not to allow Russia to erase the border between war and peace, to impose on us the agenda of hybrid threats, when in the event of aggression Russia will not be responsible for the operations of supposedly private military companies. She bears and will bear responsibility,” the politician added. He also noted that one of the reasons for the adoption of the resolution was that recently in the countries of Western Europe they began to record cases when Russian intelligence recruited local residents to participate in armed formations.