EU slaps sanctions on Russian mercenaries, Wagner Group

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has imposed sanctions on a group of private Russian military contractors it accuses of fomenting violence and committing human rights abuses in the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine. EU foreign ministers agreed to slap asset freezes and travel bans Monday on eight people involved with the Wagner Group, including founder Dmitry Utkin, and three energy companies linked to the group in Syria. The EU accuses the people targeted of “serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings, or in destabilizing activities in some of the countries they operate in.”  EU lawmakers say the group should be treated as a “proxy organization” for the Russian state.