WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2020) US Senators Chris Coons and Marco Rubio on Wednesday introduced a congressional resolution calling on President Donald Trump to develop and execute a strategy to counter the "malign activities" of Russian national Yevgeniy Prigozhin and the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group.
"[T]he 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... to counter the malign influence and activities of Prigozhin, the entities linked to him, and the Wagner Group," the resolution said.
Coons and Rubio said the activities of Prigozhin, affiliated entities and the Wagner Group pose a threat to the national interests and national security of the United States.
The United States has already sanctioned Prigozhin and the Wagner Group for allegedly meddling in US elections and for their role in what the two senators say was an annexation of Crimea. On March 16, 2014, the residents of Crimea decided by an overwhelming majority in a referendum to rejoin Russia.
Coons and Rubio have repeatedly accused Prigozhin and the Wagner Group of continuing "unabated subversive activities" in multiple countries, including in the Central African Republic, Libya, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sudan.
Both senators are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
