Action Alert: Cosponsor the Bipartisan Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act 2.0

Bottom Line Up Front

Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act 2.0 to designate the paramilitary Wagner Group’s successors as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). After the death of Wagner Group leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin in 2023, Wagner’s personnel and operations were absorbed by the Russian Ministry of Defense and reorganized into successor entities. These groups continue Wagner’s record of human rights abuses, resource extraction, and support for authoritarian regimes worldwide. Russian private military companies (PMCs) now pose threats across Africa and the Western Hemisphere, particularly in Venezuela, where over 120 Russian military personnel have trained Venezuelan forces.

The HARM Act 2.0 (H.R. 7415) would direct the U.S. government to designate Wagner’s successors, including Africa Corps, Redut PMC, and Patriot PMC, as FTOs. The bill also would impose sanctions on these groups and their leaders and take steps to prevent future Russian PMCs from similarly evading sanctions.

FDD Action supports this legislation and urges Members of Congress to cosponsor it.

• Co-Leads: Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Steve Cohen (D-TN)
• Original Cosponsors: Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Pat Fallon (R-TX), Maria Salazar (R-FL), Zach Nunn (R-IA)

The Russian PMC Threat and Sanctions Loophole

• The Venezuela threat: Russian private military contractors, particularly the Wagner Group, have played a key role in supporting the Maduro regime since 2019, when about 400 contractors arrived to provide security during the presidential crisis. Wagner-affiliated contractors were also seen with riot police during the 2024 post-election protests. Ukrainian intelligence reports from last year claimed that over 120 Russian military personnel, led by Lieutenant General Oleg Makarevich, were training Venezuelan infantry, special forces, and UAV operators.
• Wagner’s record in Africa, Middle East: Wagner mercenaries in Mali have been implicated in systematic human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings and mass civilian casualties. While these Russian mercenaries are hired to provide security assistance, the violence and chaos they wreak actually compound regional instability.
• Africa Corps carries on Wagner’s legacy: The Africa Corps now carries on this bloody legacy by supporting authoritarian regimes and extracting natural resources. It operates in Libya at key air bases alongside Russian-allied forces, and by early May 2024, it had deployed roughly 1,800 personnel to Libya. Russia has also retained control of its main bases on Syria’s coast, including the Tartus naval facility and Hmeimim airbase, which the Africa Corps uses as logistics hubs for operations across the Sahel and North Africa. Russia’s operations across Africa and the Mediterranean directly threaten U.S. strategic interests by expanding Moscow’s influence, undermining American partnerships, and allowing Russia to project its power across NATO’s southern flank.
• Operating with impunity: Africa Corps, Redut PMC, and Patriot PMC now conduct operations consistent with Wagner Group’s historical activities. The integration of Wagner-derived forces into Ministry of Defense structures does not diminish their threat to international peace and security, human rights, or U.S. national security interests. Yet current U.S. law has not kept pace with this reorganization. This gap in the existing legal framework has allowed these successor entities to evade the sanctions that targeted Wagner, rewarding Moscow for its mercenary restructure.

About the Legislation

The Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries Act 2.0 would counter Russian paramilitary threats by:

• Requiring the Secretary of State to identify all Wagner successor entities, including Africa Corps, Redut PMC, Patriot PMC, and any Ministry of Defense-affiliated paramilitary formations that inherit Wagner personnel, operations, or assets.
• Directing the designation of entities and individuals as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists when they meet criteria for terrorist activity under U.S. law.
• Imposing comprehensive sanctions under Executive Order 13224, including asset blocking and transaction prohibitions for designated entities and their leadership.
• Requiring detailed annual reports for five years on operations, activities, and force disposition across Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and other regions.
• Monitoring abuses through the documentation of human rights abuses, war crimes, and violations of international humanitarian law.
• Closes the existing sanctions loophole by requiring the Secretary of State to periodically update designations to catch any future successor organizations that rebrand or reorganize.
• Counters threats in America’s backyard by explicitly requiring the Secretary’s reports to include Russian paramilitary activity in Venezuela and the Western Hemisphere.