EU sanctions Russian group Wagner to deter attack on Ukraine

The European Union (EU) sanctioned the Russian paramilitary group Wagner on Monday, issuing a warning that any hostile action against Ukraine you will receive in reply an unprecedented economic response.

Following the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool over the weekend, where the United States and its main allies warned the Kremlin that there will be “huge consequences” if Ukraine invades, the bloc’s heads of diplomacy met in Brussels on Monday.

The first measure announced was the approval of sanctions against eight people and three companies associated with the private military company Wagner.

They then expressed their willingness to impose measures against Russia’s economy, if the stationing of troops on the border with Ukraine leads to direct military action.

“Let me say, once again, in a firm way that the European Union is united in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said the bloc’s head of Diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

Borrel indicated that all the ministers “were very clear that any aggression against Ukraine will imply political consequences with a very high cost for Russia.”

“We are coordinating globally with our transatlantic partners and other allies,” he added.

In this sense, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to “de-escalate tensions” in Ukraine, warning that a military intervention would be a “strategic error” with serious “consequences,” his office reported.

This is the first meeting with her peers for Germany’s head of diplomacy Annalena Baerbock, the Green Party politician who took office last week with the government of new Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

– Warnings about the gas pipeline –

Berlin has one of the most important cards if sanctions are adopted, for example a blockade of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline built by Gazprom between Germany and Russia.

“If the escalation continues, this gas pipeline will no longer be able to connect to the network,” Baerbock warned the ZDF chain on Sunday.

Nord Stream 2 will double the capacity of the first gas pipeline, bypassing Ukraine, the route currently used for pumping Russian gas into the EU, depriving Kiev of revenue and jeopardizing its gas supply.

“Europeans must be united, be heard and stand firm against the actions of Russia,” said the representative of a state of the bloc.

This is the meaning of the actions taken against the Wagner group and its leaders, active in Ukraine, Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.

“This private Russian military company is used to perpetrate destabilizing actions wherever it operates, whether in Europe or other countries, especially in Africa,” said the source, adding that Europe must “give a global response to the country that sponsors it.”

– A united front –

This meeting of EU ministers will prepare the summit on Wednesday, in Brussels, between the leaders of the EU and their peers from five of the six nations of the eastern association (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and also the European summit on Thursday.

Belarus is out of this alliance, but opposition leader Svetlana Tijanóvskaya is in Brussels until Wednesday, and on Sunday she met with EU officials, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, as well as Borrell.

A sixth package of sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is being prepared, diplomatic sources indicated.

The EU wants to present to its eastern neighbors a united front against what it considers to be destabilizing interventions by Russia in the region, a senior diplomat told AFP.

But on the issue of China – accused of persecuting the minority of Uyghurs, threatening Taiwan and repressing freedoms in Hong Kong – there is less consensus among the bloc countries.

The United States and its allies are promoting a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, protesting China’s behavior.

But Europeans are divided and countries like France dismiss the boycott as a useless measure and in the end the ministers did not find the time to broach the issue.