A draft resolution will be submitted to the Lithuanian Seimas with a proposal to recognise Wagner, a private Russian military company, as a terrorist organisation.
The draft resolution has been drawn up and registered by Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the Seimas Committee on National Security and Defence, as well as Žygimantas Pavilionis, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Saulius Skvernelis, a former prime minister and the leader of the opposition Democrats "For Lithuania".
The resolution proposes that the Seimas should declare Wagner a terrorist organisation and its members and mercenaries should be deemed a threat to the state and public security.
Other countries are also urged to follow suit.
The draft resolution states that since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Wagner's mercenaries have been committing "systematic, serious crimes of aggression – killing and torturing civilians in Ukraine, bombing homes and other civilian objects – which amount to terrorism".
The resolution states that Wagner receives military equipment from the Russian government, including Grad missile systems, tanks and armoured vehicles, uses military infrastructure, and receives training from Russia's military intelligence service (GRU).
Read more: Wagner may test West’s response by attacking Baltics – Lithuanian president’s aide
The firm’s mercenaries helped Russia occupy and annex Crimea in 2014, took part in the war in eastern Ukraine and are involved in criminal activities in the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mali.
The draft resolution also stresses the need for Lithuania to adopt a Law on the Prevention of Terrorism that would set out specific criteria for the adoption of a list of terrorist organisations and would impose sanctions on individuals involved in the activities of listed groups.
In May, the Lithuanian Seimas recognised the war in Ukraine as genocide and Russia as a country that sponsors and perpetrates terrorism.
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