The European Union on Saturday imposed new sanctions on members of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner for “human rights violations” in Africa.
The sanctions target the group’s leader in Mali and senior officials in the Central African Republic. These entities have been added to the EU bloc’s list of asset freezes and travel bans.
A European Council statement said the sanctions were decided “in view of the international dimension and seriousness of the group’s activities and its destabilising impact on the countries where it is active”.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel, stated in this context that the activities of the Wagner group are a “threat to the countries where they operate and to the European Union”.
The eight members of Wagner will face sanctions under the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime for the group’s activities in the Central African Republic and Sudan. A ninth member has been hit by an EU sanctions regime that applies specifically to Mali.
Jihan Rmili