The European Union on Thursday added the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner to its list of individuals and entities sanctioned for "active participation in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine."

This group of mercenaries, which is fighting in eastern Ukraine to try to seize the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar, had already been placed in February on another EU sanctions list for human rights violations and "destabilization" of countries in Africa.

'Destabilizing impact'

The European Council, which represents the 27 member states of the European Union, explained that the new sanctions list "complements" the previous one. Wagner, he continued, was inscribed for "actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."

The fact that this paramilitary organization is thus doubly sanctioned "underlines the international dimension and seriousness" of its activities, as well as "its destabilizing impact on the countries where it is active," the Council said in a statement.

The latter has also added to its list of natural and legal persons targeted by the sanctions RIA FAN, a Russian media that is part of the Patriot Media Group, whose board of directors is headed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the boss of Wagner.

Responsible for the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier?

A Russian NGO and a Wagner deserter claimed that mercenaries belonging to the group were responsible for the beheading of a man who appears to have been a Ukrainian prisoner of war. Prigozhin rejected the accusations, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a new exaction by Russian "monsters".

In a viral video that lasts one minute and forty seconds and has been circulating since Tuesday, an individual in camouflage is seen, his face masked, slicing the neck of another man in uniform struggling on the ground and screaming "it hurts". The Russian prosecutor's office announced Thursday that it had begun examining the images.

Natural or legal persons sanctioned by the European Union are subject to a freeze on their assets on the territory of its Member States and a ban on travelling there. In addition, no one in the EU is allowed to make funds available to them. Over the past year, the EU has imposed ten successive rounds of sanctions against Russia following its military offensive in Ukraine.

  • War in Ukraine
  • World
  • Volodymyr Zelensky
  • Yevgeny Prigozhin
  • Russia