A top EU court on Wednesday, rejected a bid by Kremlin-linked oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, the alleged financier of the Wagner mercenary group, to overturn sanctions imposed over the Libyan conflict.

Prigozhin had challenged a decision in 2020 to freeze his assets in the European Union and place him on a visa blacklist in connection with the deployment of Wagner fighters to the war-torn north African country.

Prigozhin claimed he had “no knowledge of an entity known as Wagner Group” and said the EU had failed to justify the move.

But the EU’s General Court rejected his case and confirmed the sanctions against him.

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It said the bloc had provided “specific, precise and consistent evidence demonstrating the numerous close links between Mr Prigozhin and Wagner Group”.

Prigozhin, reputedly a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also sanctioned by the EU in April 2022 over the Ukraine invasion and is blacklisted by Washington for meddling in the US elections.

Shadowy outfit Wagner has been accused of deploying mercenaries with Kremlin support in hotspots such as Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, and Mali.

The EU claimed that it violated an international arms embargo against Libya and that its fighters were involved in military operations against UN-backed authorities.

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