He accused it of destabilizing it.. The European Union imposes sanctions on Russia's Wagner

On Monday, the European Union imposed sanctions on the Russian private military group Wagner, as well as on 8 individuals and 3 energy companies in Syria, accused of helping to finance mercenaries in Ukraine, Libya and Syria.

Union ministers meeting in Brussels accused the Wagner Group - which is mostly made up of former soldiers - of committing "destabilizing" practices and violating human rights, and said it was carrying out covert operations on behalf of the Kremlin.

"The Wagner Group is responsible for serious human rights violations in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique," the union said in its official newspaper, and included torture and extrajudicial executions, among them.

Russia denies wrongdoing, and President Vladimir Putin has said private military contractors have the right to operate and pursue their interests anywhere in the world as long as they do not violate Russian law.

Putin said the Wagner Group does not represent the Russian state and does not receive money from it.

The sanctions, which include travel bans and asset freezes, are aimed at preventing any government from doing business with Wagner, and diplomats said they were unlikely to have a significant impact on Moscow, but represented a further tightening of the European Union's foreign policy toward Russia.

Among the targets is former Russian military intelligence officer Dmitry Utkin, who was blacklisted by the European Union, saying he is the founder of the Wagner Group and responsible for "coordinating and planning the deployments of Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine".

The sanctions also include 3 entities linked to the Wagner Group, which the European Union has said are involved in oil and gas production in Syria.

The union had imposed a travel ban and asset freeze in October 2020 on Yevgeny Prigogine, who is close to the Kremlin, who the bloc said has close ties to the Wagner Group.

"The Wagner Group receives funding from Yevgeny Prigogine," the federation said on Monday in the Official Gazette, who denied this in a statement last Friday.