The financial assets of the paramilitary group Wagner, which also has troops deployed in Syria or Libya, will be frozen
The European Union agreed this Monday to sanction the group of Russian mercenaries Wagner for its “destabilizing” action in Ukraine, a country that is also militarily threatened by the Kremlin, and in other territories of the world. The decision was adopted unanimously by the foreign ministers of the 27 member states. These new measures will affect not only the organization as such, but also eight individuals and three companies involved in its activities. All will see their assets frozen in EU countries and their visa applications rejected.
The so-called Private Military Company (ChVK in its Russian acronym) Wagner, according to a report prepared by Brussels, practices torture, extrajudicial executions, assassinations, as well as other human rights violations in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Mali and Ukraine. Also occasionally in Venezuela. Among those punished is Dmitri Utkin, creator and head of these paramilitaries. He was commander-in-chief of the 700th special forces detachment of one of the GRU (Russian military intelligence) brigades and was decorated by Vladimir Putin.
THE KEY:
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Strong report.
Brussels accuses the group of torture, extrajudicial executions, assassinations and other human rights violations
Brussels has also punished Valeri Zajárov, identified as the “security adviser” of the Central African Republic and a key figure in the chain of command of the Wagner group. The EU also designates Zakharov as the person in charge of security for the three Russian journalists killed in 2018 in the country of the black continent. The companies on the sanctions list are Velada, Mercury and Euro Polis, which are engaged in the extraction and commercialization of oil in Syria.
Deterrence
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that deterrence has been chosen “to prevent a crisis from unleashing. We will send a clear signal – to Russia – that any aggression against Ukraine will come at a high cost. We are going to do what is in our power to prevent this from happening. Referring to the weekend’s G7 Foreign Affairs summit in Liverpool, Borrell added that “there was a solid agreement, a decision to take a strong stance in support of Ukraine, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In his words, it is intended to send “a clear signal that any aggression against Ukraine will have a very high economic cost.”
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers this Monday has served as preparation for tomorrow’s European summit in Brussels, between the leaders of the EU and their counterparts from the countries of the so-called Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine ). Belarus was also part of this group before, but was expelled after its president, Alexander Lukashenko, manipulated the results of the August elections last year.
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