EU sanctions Russian officials linked to Navalny’s imprisonment

The European Union has imposed personal sanctions on four Russian officials for their involvement in the persecution of opposition politician Alexey Navalny, the German Press Agency reported on Tuesday, March 2. 

Update. Information about the sanctions has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The sanctions were imposed on Russia’s Attorney General Igor Krasnov, Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin, National Guard Chief Viktor Zolotov, and Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Director Alexander Kalashnikov, report the German outlets Bild and Focus. 

The sanctioned officials will be banned from entering the European Union and their assets held in the union will be frozen.

According to reports from Reuters, the United States is also set to introduce sanctions over Navalny’s poisoning on March 2. These are expected to be comparable to the measures taken by the EU. 

Update. Later in the day on Tuesday, the United States also announced sanctions against Russia over Alexey Navalny’s poisoning and imprisonment. The sanctions were imposed upon the following officials: the first deputy head of Putin’s administration, Sergey Kirienko; FSB director Alexander Bortnikov; deputy defense ministers Alexey Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov; FSIN Director Alexander Kalashnikov; Attorney General Igor Krasnov; and the head of the Presidential Executive Office’s domestic policy department, Andrey Yarin. Three Russian research institutes were also placed under sanctions.

In February, Alexey Navalny’s associates put forward a list of 35 people who, in their opinion, ought to come under Western sanctions. The list included the heads of Russia’s security structures, as well as a number of pro-Kremlin businessmen. It later became known that the EU had decided not to impose sanctions on pro-Kremlin oligarchs just yet.

In October 2020, the European Union, and subsequently the United Kingdom, announced personal sanctions against six Russian officials (including FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov) in response to the August 2020 poisoning of Alexey Navalny. The sanctions included a ban on entry into the EU and a freeze on all financial assets held in the union. The EU also sanctioned Russia’s State Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT), where it is believed that Novichok-type nerve agents were developed during Soviet period.