Two Conservatives are calling for the Canadian government to list the Wagner Group as a terrorist entity and establish a special tribunal on Russian war crimes..“Evidence gathered by Ukrainian prosecutors and German intelligence demonstrate that the Wagner Group has committed numerous war crimes in Ukraine, including the rape, torture and murder of civilians in Ukraine," said Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong (Wellington—Halton Hills, on) and Shadow Minister For National Defence James Bezan (Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB)..The Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization with ties to neo-Nazis, has been operating in Ukraine since 2014. The group's estimated 50,000 operatives have been accused of committing war crimes in the areas where they are deployed, such as raping and robbing civilizations and torturing accused deserters..Wagner Group operates beyond the law in Russia, where private military contractors are banned. The organization allows the Russian Federation to have plausible deniability in its conflicts, obscuring the extent of its involvement and masking the number of causalities and financial costs..Chong and Bezan said the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, the US military, and the French government have documented the Wagner group committing war crimes in Ukraine, Syria, and various African countries..“The Wagner Group has engaged in a pattern of grave, systemic war crimes and human rights abuses over several years in countries from Ukraine to Syria, from the Central African Republic to Mali. This pattern continues unabated and unpunished," they said..Sunday, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General said over 66,000 alleged war crimes have been reported to Ukrainian authorities since Russia's invasion back in February 2022. .The Conservative MPs said the Wagner Group has been allowed to commit atrocities with "impunity." But by labelling the organization as a terrorist entity, the Liberal government would be cutting off its sources of funding, restricting its ability to travel, and making it illegal to assist the group..“Additionally, Conservatives are calling on the government to take the lead at the G7 for the establishment of a special tribunal on war crimes committed by the military and mercenaries deployed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine," the MPs said.."International law must be enforced, and Russia is not exempt from the consequences of its war crimes in Ukraine.”.Bezan, an MP since 2004, has taken a hard line on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Bezan told the Western Standard he supported establishing a no-fly zone in Ukraine to allow civilians to exit the country and humanitarian aid to enter..Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, QC) ultimately denied Ukraine's request for a no-fly zone, saying the risk of "involving NATO in a direct conflict if we send NATO planes to Ukraine... means we can't do that."."If Putin wants a war with NATO, he will initiate that by attacking one of our NATO partners in Eastern Europe. That's up to him," Bezan told the Western Standard.."I can tell you that none of us want World War Three or a nuclear war. But if we don't start laying out some of the ground rules, and just leave it to Putin to find out what he can do in this war, then more and more atrocities will be committed."
