EU imposes sanctions on Russia’s Wagner PMC after a video of the alleged beheading of a Ukrainian POW surfaces

The European Union has added Russia's Wagner PMC and the news agency "FAN," associated with Kremlin oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, to the sanctions list. According to the EU, Wagner's private military company is responsible for the attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bakhmut in January 2023 and is now actively involved in the Russian war against Ukraine. "Thus, the Wagner group bears responsibility for providing financial support for actions that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine," the official journal of the European Union has stated. The restrictions were imposed following the release of a video showing Russian soldiers allegedly beheading a Ukrainian soldier.

Video of ISIS-style execution of Ukrainian POW shared by Russian TG channels

Later, a former commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner Andrei Medvedev, who defected to Norway in January 2023, identified his fellow soldier in the video of the execution, according to Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the Russian human rights group Gulagu.net.

Fugitive ex-Wagner commander identifies fellow servicemen in POW beheading video