Putin’s ‘chef’ Prigozhin sues EU over sanctions

Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has filed a lawsuit in an EU court to remove him from the bloc’s sanctions list, his company said Tuesday.

The European Union in October sanctioned Prigozhin — nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because his company Concord has catered for the Kremlin — accusing him of undermining peace in Libya by supporting the Wagner Group private military company.

“The plaintiff does not possess information about the existence of an organisation named ‘Wagner Group’, did not and does not have any connections to or relations with it, including financial,” Concord said in a statement on the social media network Vkontakte.

It said the lawsuit was filed with the General Court of the EU last week and claimed the bloc’s sanctions were “introduced illegally and without reason.”

Prigozhin, 59, has also been sanctioned by the United States for meddling in its 2016 presidential vote and for his links to Wagner, which has been accused of sending mercenaries to conflicts throughout the Middle East and Africa.

On Monday Concord said Prigozhin had shelled out nearly $500,000 in support of two Russian political operatives recently released by Libya, which had detained them last year on charges of vote meddling on behalf of the Kremlin.

Both operatives were employed by the Foundation for the Defence of National Values, a Moscow-based organisation that is part of a media group the United States has linked to Prigozhin.