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EU to Impose Sanctions on Russian Military Contractor Wagner Group, Official Says

Russian soldiers on guard in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)
Russian soldiers on guard in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)
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EU to Impose Sanctions on Russian Military Contractor Wagner Group, Official Says

Russian soldiers on guard in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)
Russian soldiers on guard in Syria's eastern city of Deir Ezzor. (AFP)

The European Union will impose sanctions on Russian private military contractor Wagner Group on Monday, as well as on three entities and seven or eight individuals, a senior EU official said, after France pressed for punitive measures citing human rights abuses.

Over a dozen people with ties to the Wagner Group have previously told Reuters it has carried out clandestine combat missions on the Kremlin's behalf in Ukraine, Libya and Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in December 2018 that Russian private military contractors had the right to work and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they did not break Russian law. In January 2020, Putin said the Wagner Group, whose members are mostly ex-service personnel, neither represented the Russia state nor were paid by the Russian state.

Moscow has repeatedly told the EU that sanctions on its citizens were akin to meddling in Russia's domestic affairs and would face retaliation.

"Wagner is active in Syria, Libya, in Ukraine and the individual (sanctions) are related to gross violations of human rights in different countries," the EU senior official said.

Two diplomats said the sanctions would be approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday and published in the bloc's official journal.

Since the Wagner Group has no direct links with the EU, the addition of the three other entities and individuals aims to have an impact by hitting companies working with the mercenaries, diplomats said.

Reuters reported in September that Mali's military junta was in discussions about deploying the Wagner Group in Mali, which France says is not acceptable because it has its own troops in the region.

French officials say the junta is turning to Wagner as part of efforts to cling to power beyond a transition period due to end after the Feb. 27 presidential and legislative elections.

Two diplomats said Mali also faces EU sanctions and that a legal framework for such measures would be agreed on Monday, although no names would be decided by then.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.