Enlarge image
Mercenaries from the Wagner group in a destroyed church in the Ukrainian city of Soledar (photo from January 29)
Photo: Ivan Noyabrev / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
The CDU calls for tougher sanctions against Russian mercenaries.
"Today, with an estimated 50,000 mercenaries, Wagner is an essential support in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine," says Katja Leikert, a CDU member of the Bundestag and foreign expert.
That is why the federal government should enforce further sanctions against the Wagner Group at EU level.
"We Europeans have to focus much more on them," Leikert told SPIEGEL.
In addition to Ukraine, the commitment of the mercenaries on the African continent is also a reason to target the group fighting on behalf of the Kremlin more closely.
In its next package of sanctions against Russia at the beginning of March, the EU must primarily impose punitive measures on the rapidly growing economic arm.
According to a study supported by the CSU-affiliated Hanns Seidl Foundation, Wagner uses companies affiliated with it, such as M Invest, Meroe Gold, Bois Rouge and Lobaye, to obtain concessions for gold mining in Africa, for example.
From this, the mercenary group finances part of their operations, according to Leikert.
In addition, security companies that acted as shell companies for Wagner would have to be investigated and, if necessary, sanctioned.
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