EU overseas ministers push new Russia sanctions – POLITICO

EU overseas ministers agreed Monday to impose new sanctions on Russia over the jailing of opposition chief Alexei Navalny, diplomats stated.

The choice, taken at a gathering in Brussels, clears the way in which for extra detailed work on the exact targets of recent penalties however diplomats stated they anticipated a minimum of 4 officers to be hit, probably together with Russia’s prosecutor basic, Igor Krasnov, and the pinnacle of its federal prisons service, Alexander Kalashnikov.

Some EU nations have known as for brand spanking new sanctions since Navalny was arrested final month upon his return to Russia from Germany, the place he had been handled following an assassination try in August, during which he was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent whereas touring in Siberia. He was accused of violating parole in a earlier case during which he had obtained a suspended sentence on politically trumped-up fraud costs. — the European Court docket of Human Rights has condemned each the unique fraud prosecution and Navalny’s current sentencing to greater than two years in jail for the parole violation.

Monday’s resolution on sanctions was broadly anticipated after a disastrous go to to Moscow by the EU’s overseas coverage chief, Josep Borrell, throughout which Russia expelled three diplomats from EU nations for allegedly attending demonstrations in assist of Navalny. The expulsions have been a part of a broader effort by Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov to humiliate Borrell, who traveled to Moscow saying he hoped to reopen dialogue with the Kremlin.

One participant in Monday’s Overseas Affairs Council assembly stated that Polish Overseas Minister Zbigniew Rau had made a forceful case for brand spanking new punitive measures, noting that Russia had constantly demonstrated that it was not serious about mutually helpful cooperation with the EU.

Rau harassed that the persecution of Navalny and different political opposition figures, in addition to arrests of 1000’s of demonstrators in current weeks, needs to be met with an “ample response” from Brussels.

Navalny and his shut associates have known as on Brussels to sanction oligarchs near Vladimir Putin who’ve substantial property within the West, however such a transfer presents potential authorized problems. Two of Navalny’s high lieutenants, Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov, met with EU diplomats on Sunday to press for focusing on the oligarchs.

In an interview with Die Welt earlier than Monday’s resolution was taken, Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, stated Moscow can be prepared to answer any new punitive measures. “I’m not going to invest whether or not our companions will go for one more spherical of illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures in opposition to my nation,” Chizhov stated within the interview. “When and if that occurs, we might be prepared to reply.”