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EU takes sanctions against PMC Wagner — source

The main architect of sanctions against Mali and the PMC Wagner is France

© AP Photo/Francisco Seco

BRUSSELS, December 13. /TASS/. The EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday made a decision without a discussion to take sanctions against the private military company Wagner and Mali for undermining the process of democratic transition in that country, a diplomatic source in Brussels told TASS.

The sanctions against the Wagner group were approved without a discussion in relation to four legal entities and eight individuals. There is a decision on sanctions for impeding Mali’s democratic transition. They will take effect after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union later in the day, the diplomat said. All individuals on the sanction list will be prohibited from entering the European Union and using its banking system, and the legal entities, from making borrowings in the EU countries.

The EU Council has officially confirmed the establishment of a mechanism of sanctions against Mali.

"The Council today amended its sanctions regime in view of the situation in Mali, establishing new criteria that will allow the EU to autonomously impose restrictive measures on individuals and entities responsible for threatening the peace, security or stability of Mali, or for obstructing the implementation of its political transition," the EU Council said in a statement on Monday. These packages of sanctions had been preliminarily agreed by the permanent representatives of the EU’s 27 member-countries on December 8.

The main architect of sanctions against Mali and the PMC Wagner is France. Since the beginning of autumn Paris has repeatedly expressed deep concern over the loss of its foothold in Mali, which followed the curtailment of the French anti-terrorist military operation in that country. France’s foreign and defense ministers have repeatedly criticized the possibility of deploying employees of the PMC Wagner to Mali, saying its activity was incompatible with France’s further military presence.

The head of Mali’s provisional government Choguel Kokalla Maiga said in his statement at the 76th UN General Assembly session on September 25 that the new situation following the termination of France’s Operation Barkhane put Mali in front of an accomplished fact. In this context the country’s authorities will have to explore ways and means of maintaining security more effectively in an autonomous mode with other partners, he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following his trip to New York for the 76th UN General Assembly session that Mali’s authorities had asked a private military company from Russia for assistance in the struggle against terrorism. He stressed that Moscow had nothing to do with that deal.

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