Yevgeny Prigozhin

The European Union (EU) has imposed sanctions on the Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed ‘Putin’s chef’, who is a close personal friend to the Russian President, due to the obvious existence of not only financial, but other links, which connects him with the private military ‘Wagner Company’, which was used by warlord Haftar in his failed war on Tripoli.

The EU said in a statement on Thursday that Prigozhin participated in supporting Wagner’s activities in Libya, which threaten not only the country’s peace, stability and security, but also that of the entire region.

The EU noted that the sanctions were to include travel bans and the freezing of assets, saying that the Russian group had, on several occasions, violated the Security Council Resolution issued in 2011 regarding the embargo on arms supplies to Libya, including the delivery of weapons, along with the deployment of mercenaries in Libya in support of Haftar’s forces.

They also pointed to Wagner’s participation in several military operations against the Government of National Accord (GNA), which is recognized by the UN as the official governing body in Libya, along with contributing to harming the stability of Libya and the undermining of the peace process.

Prigozhin was and is the primary funder of Wagner’s forces with reports concluding that he is funding training groups of Russian mercenaries, presently operating in Syria, Eastern Ukraine, Sudan and Libya.