EU slaps sanctions on Russia’s Wagner PMC

That’s according to the European Council’s press service, Ukrinform reports.

“The Council today adopted a set of restrictive measures against the Wagner Group, a Russia-based unincorporated private military entity. The measures target the Wagner group itself, and eight individuals and three entities connected to it,” the statement said.

The Wagner Group is said to have been recruiting, training and sending private military operatives to conflict zones around the world “to fuel violence, loot natural resources and intimidate civilians in violation of international law, including human rights.”

The European Council stressed that persons on the EU sanctions list are involved in “serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or in destabilising activities in the countries they operate in, including Libya, Syria, Ukraine (Donbas) and the Central African Republic.”

This group is also spreading its malign influence, including in the Sahel region, the Council added.

In view of this, the group poses a threat for the people in the countries they operate in, the wider region, and the European Union, the statement said.

“The aim of today's decision is to curtail the subversive activities of the Wagner Group. It signals the EU’s strong determination to stand up for its interests and values in its neighbourhood and beyond, and to take tangible action against those threatening international peace and security, and breaching international law,” the EU Council reported.

The response measures enforced Monday include four sanctions regimes: the EU’s Global Sanctions Human Rights Sanctions Regime and sanctions regimes in Libya and Syria, as well as for actions undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Sanctions against individuals and institutions on the list include an asset freeze in the EU and a travel ban to the EU. All persons and entities in the European Union will be prohibited from “making funds available, either directly or indirectly, to those listed.”

The relevant EU legal acts, including the names of the persons and entities in question, have been published in the Official Journal of the EU.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Russian mercenaries with the notorious Wagner PMC are believed to have committed grave crimes in conflict zones across the world, including war crimes in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, Africa, and the Middle East.

The European Union recently warned the Mali government against inviting the Wagner Group to deploy mercenaries to take part in the ongoing conflict.

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