The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

having regard to the fact that since the onset of the military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, the regular troops of the Russian Federation and the mercenaries of the Russian Federation’s private military company Wagner, being actively involved in military actions on the aggressor’s side, have committed systematic and serious crimes of aggression which are equated with terrorism, such as the killing and torturing of the civilian population of Ukraine, bombardment of residential buildings and other civilian objects,

reminding that Resolution No XIV-1070 of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania of 10 May 2022 on the Recognition of the Actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine as Genocide and the Establishment of a Special International Criminal Tribunal to Investigate the Crime of Russian Aggression stated that the Russian Federation, whose military forces deliberately and systematically target civilian objects for bombing, is a state sponsor and perpetrator of terrorism,

noting that the private military company Wagner, established by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who has been sanctioned by the European Union (EU) and the United States of America (US) for his interference in democratic processes in foreign states and for contributing to the realisation of the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions, is a shadow instrument of Russia’s power in that it receives military equipment, such as Grad multiple rocket launch systems, tanks and armoured vehicles, free of charge from the Government of the Russian Federation, makes use of Russia’s military infrastructure, and this company’s fighters are trained by the Russian Federation’s military intelligence service (GRU),

adding that the mercenaries of the private military company Wagner assisted the Russian Federation in the occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014, engaged in military actions in 2015 in eastern Ukraine, at the city of Debaltseve, where they assisted pro-Russian separatists, the mercenaries of this company are also suspected of having committed brutal executions in Syria, and in recent years the company has expanded its operations in the Central African Republic with the Government of which it has concluded so-called military cooperation agreements in exchange for access to natural resource mining projects the proceeds from which are used for the acquisition of new weapons and recruitment of fighters, thereby assisting Russia in generating profitable revenue sources, operating outside formal financial systems and circumventing the sanctions imposed by Western countries,

drawing attention to the fact that the EU and the US have sanctioned the private military company Wagner for its involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine, also for the commission of serious crimes, including mass executions, rape, child abductions and physical abuse and other human rights violations in the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mali, as well as to the fact that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has designated the private military company Wagner as an transnational criminal organisation and that the US Senate is debating whether to designate this military company as a foreign terrorist organisation,

referring to the provisions of European Parliament Resolution of 23 November 2022 on recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism calling, inter alia, on the European Council to include the Wagner Group and the 141^st Special Motorized Regiment, also known as the Kadyrovites, as well as other Russian-funded armed groups of mercenaries active in the occupied territories of Ukraine on the EU list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts,

welcoming the Statement of the Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia of 18 October 2022 on condemning the annexation of the territory of Ukraine and declaring Russian regime a terrorist regime, as well as condemning the use in the aggression of any armed groups established with the support of the authorities of the Russian Federation, such as the Wagner Group, and considering it necessary to define the armed forces of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics established by the Russian Federation as well as the private military company Wagner as terrorist organisations,

appreciating the hearings held by the UK Parliament’s House of Commons on labelling the private military company Wagner as a terrorist group,

strongly condemns the use of any mercenary groups such as the Wagner Group, established with the support of the authorities of the Russian Federation, for the ongoing crimes of aggression in Ukraine;

notes that the Russian Federation’s private military company Wagner is a terrorist organisation and that its members and mercenaries pose a threat to state and public security;

calls on other states to recognise the Russian Federation’s private military company Wagner as a terrorist organisation;

stresses the need for Lithuania to adopt a Law on the Prevention of Terrorism laying down specific criteria for the approval of a list of terrorist organisations by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it and for the imposition of statutory sanctions against persons participating in activities of terrorist organisations included in the list.

Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen