DW News published this video item, entitled “EU sanctions Russian ‘Wagner’ mercenary group over military threat to Ukraine | DW News” – below is their description.
The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on the Russian-based private military contractor known as the Wagner Group, which is accused of carrying out “hybrid warfare” on behalf of the Kremlin. “They represent a threat and create instability in a number of countries around the world,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters Monday after a meeting of EU foreign ministers. The foreign ministers decided to “target the Wagner group itself, and eight individuals and three entities connected to it,” according to a statement. The sanctions include asset bans and travel freezes intended to limit the group’s operations. The statement added that those who have been targeted “are involved in 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.”
The countries where Wagner is said to operate include Libya, Mali, Syria, Ukraine and the Central African Republic.
The move on Wagner Group comes as the EU foreign ministers warned of an unprecedented economic response, should Russia carry out an invasion of Ukraine, amid tensions over a Russian troop build-up near the border with Ukraine. “The ministers — all of them — have been very clear today that any aggression against Ukraine will come with political consequences and with a high economic cost for Russia,” Borrell told reporters on Monday, following talks.
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The Central African Republic, or Centrafrique, is a landlocked country in Central Africa.
It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest and Cameroon to the west. The CAR covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi) and had an estimated population of around 4.7 million as of 2018.
As of 2020, the CAR is the scene of a civil war, ongoing since 2012.
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Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.
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