THE Home Secretary has banned Putin's mercenary Wagner Group under anti-terror laws, making it illegal for Brits to support it.
Suella Braverman's move will put the troops previously led by Yevgeny Prigozhin on par with the likes of ISIS and al-Qaeda.
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The Home Secretary said Wagner were 'terrorists, plain and simple' Credit: Getty 4
The group, previously led by the late Prigozhin, is now on par with ISIS in the UK Credit: AFP
She plans to make Wagner a "proscribed" organisation, meaning members and supporters will face both arrest and prosecution.
Attending its meetings, encouraging support, or donning its logo will be a criminal offence that carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Mrs Braverman said the "violent and destructive" organisation were "terrorists, plain and simple".
Britain is amping up the pressure on Vladimir Putin by stamping out support for Wagner, which has been his star on the battlefield.
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But the future of the group remains unclear after its leader Prigozhin and his top advisors died in a fireball plane crash a few weeks ago.
The Home Secretary said: "Wagner is a violent and destructive organisation which has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin's Russia overseas.
"While Putin's regime decides what to do with the monster it created, Wagner's continuing destabilising activities only continue to serve the Kremlin's political goals.
"They are terrorists, plain and simple - and this proscription order makes that clear in UK law.
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"Wagner has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders," the top Tory continued.
"Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security.
"That is why we are proscribing this terrorist organisation and continuing to aid Ukraine wherever we can in its fight against Russia."
A draft proscription order to ban the Wagner Group under the Terrorism Act 2000 will be put forward in Parliament on Wednesday.
The legislation gives the Home Secretary powers to prohibit a group if they believe it is involved in terrorism.
Once it is passed by MPs, members and supporters could be slapped with a jail term of up to 14 years or a fine of up to ￡5,000.
Wagner's assets and finances can also be categorised as terrorist property and seized - heavily impacting their ability to raise cash.
As well as using the money to bankroll their war missions, the private military group is said to need a rainy-day stash as Putin decides what to do with them.
It was reported that Putin was considering replacing Wagner with ruthless Chechen soldiers to help him regain control in parts of Ukraine.
They would be led by brutal warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, who has a penchant for torture, murder, kidnapping and anti-gay purges.
The Kremlin is reportedly wrestling with whether to disband Wagner, as some of Russia's most valuable fighters are part of the group.
There are estimated to be around 25,000 members of Wagner, who are looking for guidance following the death of their leader.
Prigozhin was laid to rest in a "private ceremony" last week at the Porokhovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
The rebel warlord, 62, was killed alongside his second in command Dmitry Utkin when his private jet was blown out of the sky.
Prigozhin and his troops had been fighting in Putin's war in Ukraine - but the Wagner boss had become a vocal critic of Russia's military leadership.
He became the latest to join a staggering body count of at least 40 high-profile deaths linked to Putin since he launched his bloody war in Ukraine.
Speculation surrounding his death has been rife, despite Prigozhin's death being officially confirmed by Russia's Investigative Committee.
Conspiracists have put forward barmy theories that Putin's former pal is in fact still alive and living in an "undisclosed country".
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Prigozhin's death came exactly two months after he staged his botched rebellion, which spectacularly backfired and saw him exiled.
He had been thought to be living on borrowed time for weeks and was reported to have stayed in a hotel with no windows in neighbouring Belarus.
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Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash, leaving Wagner's future uncertain Credit: AFP 4
The Kremlin are still deciding what to do with the Russian mercenaries Credit: AP