Swiss impose sanctions on Russian Wagner Group

The logo of the Wagner Group painted over with an anti-war graffito in Belgrade, Serbia. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

The government has again expanded its list of sanctions against Russia, this time to include the paramilitary Wagner Group and the news agency RIA FAN.

The Swiss move follows and “reinforces the impact” of a similar decision taken by the European Union (EU) a week ago, the economics ministry said on Thursday.

The Wagner Group – a Russia-based military organisation and “an instrument of Russian hybrid warfare” – is being targeted for its “active participation in Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine”, the ministry wroteExternal link.

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It added that while the legal nature of the Wagner group is unclear, it is “part of a complex network of global companies (operating in a range of sectors including aviation, security, technology, commodity trading, financial services and influencing activities) which are linked through overlapping ownership structures and logistics networks”.

RIA FAN – whose board of directors is headed up by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin – has meanwhile been sanctioned for “dissemination of pro-government propaganda and disinformation”.

Prigozhin himself has been subject to Swiss sanctions since October 2020 due to activities in Libya, the Keystone-SDA news agency reports.

Facts and bans

Two other media outlets recently sanctioned by the EU – RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic – escaped a similar measure from the Swiss side. While the channels are significant purveyors of Russian media manipulation and falsification, the Swiss government remains convinced that the best way to counter disinformation is with facts rather than bans, it said.

“Therefore, while these two media outlets will not be blocked in Switzerland, there will be a ban on advertising on them,” the economics ministry wrote.

The sanctions come into force at 6pm Swiss time on Thursday.

After some initial hesitation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Switzerland has since followed the EU and introduced a series of sanctions against Russia. It has taken over ten packages of measures to date.