The United States imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group in 2017, when the Commerce Department added it to its Entity List for export control in response to allegations that it was fueling the violence in eastern Ukraine. In December, the Commerce Department designated Wagner as a military end user, which requires exporters to request a license for any transaction with the group, except in some cases that include food or medicine. In 2020, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Prigozhin for “advancing Russia’s malign influence” in the Central African Republic. It imposed further sanctions on Prigozhin in 2021 for his alleged interference in U.S. elections. Then, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, he faced further restrictions for his role in “bankrolling” Putin, Treasury said. On Friday, Kirby said that Wagner would be designated as a “significant transnational criminal organization” under Executive Order 13581 — and that the United States would impose “additional sanctions next week against Wagner and its support network across multiple continents.”