Thread by @Jack_Mrgln

TASS reports that EU members have approved the introduction of sanctions against Wagner Group entities. The EU Council will then have to approve this decision on the 13th.

Thread on what we know and who the targets are.

1/x
tass.ru/mezhdunarodnay…

This is in line with statements by @RFERL 's Europe Editor

https://twitter.com/RikardJozwiak/status/1468530442978664448

2/x

RFE/RL's Ukraine service reported yesterday that this included
- Stanislav Dychko
- Dmitry Utkin
- Valeriy Zakharov

As well as entities listed under the Syria program

3/x

radiosvoboda.org/a/news-sanktsi…

Those entities include Andrei Troshev and Andrei Bogatov, and the Russian companies Mercury, Velada and Europolis — all three of which are involved in resource extraction in Syria and associated with Yevgeniy Prigozhin

4/x

rferl.org/a/russia-param…

If they are listing Mercury and Velada, they should also look at Kapital LLC, which is linked to their structures. I spoke with @ak_mack at @ForeignPolicy on this in May

5/x

foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/17/put…

The companies in Syria make sense, as they do appear to be part of the larger network of entities linked to Prigozhin and Wagner. This also appears to be the most commercially successful part of these networks.

6/x

themoscowtimes.com/2020/01/20/rus…

The individuals are interesting choices.

Dmitry Utkin is the most notorious — he is the mysterious Wagner "namesake" who has been the subject of much conjecture.

7/x

https://twitter.com/fontanka_news/status/808306932440252417?s=20

I've suspected he is more important symbolically, but @nicksturdee and Denis Korotkov have both reported details that make a good case he may be important operationally.

newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-…

8/x

Stanislav Dychko was one of the Russian combatants who was featured in the video of the torture and execution of Hamdi Bouta in Syria. Curious if others will be designated for their involvement.

9/

novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/…

Valeriy Zakharov was Russia's man in the Central African Republic for a long while. There's a lot to be said about the supposed former GRU officer, but he certainly has played an important role in this network in the CAR historically.

10/

thedailybeast.com/putins-man-in-…

The Officers Union (COSI) that claims to represent Russian instructors in the CAR posted a video of people chanting "ROSSIYA" with a caption bemoaning Europe's attacks on Russian citizens working in Africa.

11/

Andrei Bogatov might be the detachment commander named by Marat Gabidullin, a former Wagner fighter, in his interview with Meduza

12/

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1334443926468653057?s=20

And Andrei Troshev might be one of the people who appeared at the Kremlin event alongside Utkin in 2016

13/

rferl.org/a/russia-param…

These are worth scrutinizing because the Wagner Group is so hard to target for financial restrictions. Meaningful measures require targeting a diffuse network of legal entities that are variously used for finance and logistics.

14/

It is also likely to involve the designation of key individuals for the purposes of messaging. These designations do both, to varying degrees.

15/

We have a mixture here of people who are at the commanding heights of this network, all the way down to folks with no meaningful command and control but who took part in atrocities.

16/

I'll be very interested to see if there are other entities included in this round, or if the EU continues seeking to designate Wagner-related entities. These networks are agile, and a one-off round of designations will not be sufficient to alter behavior.

/fin