EU Adds to Its Entry Ban Several Russian Officials for Poisoning and Detaining Alexei Navalny

Brussels and Washington have imposed sanctions on several Russian officials and businesses after US intelligence officials found the Russian government accountable for attacking Alexei Navalny.

Similarly, the US has imposed sanctions on these Russian individuals in coordination with the EU and required them to release Navalny from prison, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Through a press release, The European Council announced that the restrictive measures are imposed against the four following Russian individuals:

• Alexander Bastrykin – Head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation
• Igor Krasnov – the Prosecutor-General,
• Viktor Zolotov – Head of the National Guard
• Alexander Kalashnikov – Head of the Federal Prison Service

According to the EU, these individuals are in charge of human rights abuse, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, repression of freedom of opinion and expression in Russia. Further, they have also been included in the arbitrarily arresting, prosecuting, and sentencing of Alexei Navalny, along with suppressing peaceful protests regarding his outlawed treatment.

The US also sanctioned Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s federal security service and deputy defense ministers Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The German newspaper Deutsche Welle also mentioned that the US targeted 13 companies and other institutions involved in producing chemical substances.

Unlike the US, the EU was mainly focused on Navalny’s arrest following his return to Russia.

In response, the Kremlin criticized moves to enforce sanctions against its officials and businesses.

“Those who continue to depend on these measures should probably give it some thought: are they achieving some goal by continuing such a policy? The answer will be obvious: such a policy does not achieve its goals,” Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin representative, said.

The UK has also welcomed the sanctions imposed by both the EU and the US.

Commenting on this issue, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Twitter that they would collaborate with other international partners to hold Russia accountable for failing to support Human rights and chemical weapons.

Furthermore, Bill Browder, a corruption expert in Russia and Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, said that the sanctions are an excellent start to tackle this issue but much more needs to be done. Additionally, he said that he is pleased that Biden has shifted from Trump’s policies and gotten stricter towards Russia.

“But I should point out that this is a very short list, and it’s a list that doesn’t include Putin’s billionaire cronies. And those were the people who would affect Putin’s actions going forward,” Browder said.

AtoZSerwisPlus.com previously reported on the situation of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who, in December 2016, tried to run for president in the elections of 2018. He was banned by Russia’s Central Electoral Commission in December 2017 and got poisoned during a flight to Moscow in August 2020.

The test performed by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons verified that he was exposed to a Novichok nerve agent.

After being recovered in Germany for several months, Navalny was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia. His detention stimulated protests all over Russia and caused the arrests of thousands of demonstrators.

The EU is expected to announce more sanctions in the following weeks. Similarly, Biden’s administration is committed to confronting Putin for allegedly attacking Russian opposition figures.

The EU has recently banned 19 Venezuelan officials from entering the EU Member States after violating human rights and restricting fundamental freedoms.