European Union countries have added the Wagner group to their sanctions list in retaliation for its involvement in the war in Ukraine, as well as the RIA FAN news agency, part of the Patriot media group, an organization whose board of directors features Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary company.
The Wagner group of mercenaries had previously been sanctioned by the Member States under what is known as the global regime for the violation of human rights. A framework created three years ago that allows the EU to sanction people, entities or organizations that are responsible for serious violations or abuses of human rights in the world, similar to the Magnitzky Law of the United States. Likewise, several of its leaders, including Prigozhin himself, as well as the head of the group in Mali, the Central African Republic and Sudan are also sanctioned.
The measures against the group imply the immobilization of assets within the European Union, the prohibition of accessing the funds they have in community entities and the prohibition of entering or transiting through any country of the Twenty-seven. In practice, since the group was already sanctioned, nothing changes; but it does give it "a symbolic value" in that the group of mercenaries and its members are sanctioned for all activities, violations of human rights and the territorial integrity of the countries where they are located.
The RIA FAN news agency has also been added to the list for the first time, a media outlet part of the Patriot group and which, according to the European Union, is related to spreading "propaganda and disinformation" about the war in Ukraine.
In total, since the invasion, a total of 1,473 individuals and 207 entities have been sanctioned, a list in which, until recently, Prigozhin's mother was also included, but the European Justice annulled the decision last March, considering that there was no Sufficient evidence of the support of the Wagner boss's mother's mother in her son's activities. The decision is currently under appeal.
