The European Union has officially imposed sanctions against the group of unofficial private military company (PIK) "Wagner", located in Russia. 27 military PIK "Wagner" and three companies associated with this organization were included in the EU sanctions list.
"Wagner's group recruited, trained and sent private military operatives to conflict zones around the world to incite violence, loot natural resources and intimidate civilians in violation of international human rights," the EU said in a statement.
Persons subject to EU sanctions are involved in serious violations of human rights, including torture and extrajudicial executions and murders, or destabilization in some countries in which they operate. We are talking about Libya, Syria, Ukraine (Donbass) and the Central African Republic, the Sahel region.
"Restrictive measures were agreed within the framework of four different sanctions regimes: the Global EU sanctions regime for human rights and sanctions regimes related to the situation in Libya and Syria, as well as for actions undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine," the EU website notes.
Individuals and legal entities against whom sanctions were imposed will now be subject to the freezing of assets in the EU. In addition, they will be prohibited from entering the EU, and will also be prohibited from providing funds directly or indirectly.
It is noted that the persons included in the list are involved in serious violations of human rights, including torture and arbitrary punishments.
As part of the regime of sanctions for violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the EU imposed restrictions against the founder of PMC "Wagner" Dmitry Utkin (former Russian intelligence officer responsible for the coordination of militants in Donbass), mercenaries of the "Wagner" group Denys Kharitonov (deputy of the Astrakhan Duma and mercenary , who fought in the Donbass as part of the Steppe battalion) and Sergey Shcherbakov (a freelance employee of the Russian intelligence service who also fought in the Steppe battalion).
In addition, the list includes "commander" Alexander Kuznetsov, whom the EU considers responsible for the activities of the "Wagner" group in Libya, one of the founders of the "Wagner" group Andrei Troshev, who is said to support the Syrian authorities, a mercenary PMC "Wagner" Andrey Bogatov, Russian Valery Zakharov, who is called the adviser to the president of the CAR on security issues and a key figure in the command structure of the PMC "Wagner", one of the mercenaries of the PMC in Syria Stanislav Dychko.
In addition, the EU imposes sanctions against energy companies from Russia "Europolis", "Velada", "Mercury", operating in the oil and gas sector of Syria.
