Pro-Putin Biker Gang 'Night Wolves' Sanctioned in EU

The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on “Night Wolves,” Russia’s biggest motorcycle club and, according to reports, President Vladimir Putin’s personal militia.

The Night Wolves club was founded in 1989 in Moscow. The group is famous for its nationalist leanings and provocative pro-Kremlin trips to Europe. Putin has previously described them as his "friends" and appeared at their rallies, riding a Harley-Davidson trike.

The group is under U.S. sanctions for allegedly recruiting and supporting separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

A meeting of EU foreign ministers agreed on sanctions against the Night Wolves the Financial Times reported Friday.

Alexander Zaldostanov, the Night Wolves’ leader, told the outlet that EU sanctions “have no meaning” for him. “If we will no longer be able to make the trips then our friends, our brothers, will come here [to Russia] instead,” Zaldostanov said at the prospect of being banned from driving across the EU. In 2013, Putin awarded Zaldostanov the Order of Honor.

He voiced his support for Moscow’s current invasion of Ukraine with the claim that Russia and Ukraine are “one country… all a unified and indivisible Russia.”