Navalny case: EU launches new sanctions against Russia

Due to the action taken against the Kremlin critic Navalny, the EU foreign ministers agreed on new sanctions against Russia. Those responsible for the Navalny case face asset freezes and entry bans. Russia warned of the consequences.

EU foreign ministers have launched new sanctions against Russia due to the actions against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. At a meeting in Brussels they agreed to start the necessary preparations. “I suppose this will now be done very quickly,” Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after the deliberations.

According to the SPD politician, a new EU sanctioning instrument created last year will be used for the first time to impose the punitive measures. This makes it possible to freeze the existing assets in the EU of actors who commit serious human rights violations or who profit from them. Furthermore, entry bans into the EU would be imposed.

Before that happens, sanctions must be specifically decided again. Only then will the names of the persons against whom the sanctions are directed will be published. Attorney General Igor Krasnow and the head of the investigation committee, Alexander Bastrykin, are apparently under discussion as possible victims. The names of the head of the prison service, Alexander Kalashnikov, and the head of the National Guard, Viktor Solotov, are also mentioned.

Russia criticizes the EU decision

The Russian government threatened consequences. The sanctions would not go unanswered by Russia, said the head of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Leonid Sluzki, according to the Interfax agency. He did not give any details. The punitive measures in the Navalny case are “one more step towards the deterioration of relations with Russia.”

The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said: “The decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to prepare new illegal unilateral restrictions under a wild pretext is disappointing.” The constant “unlawful and absurd demands” for the release of a “citizen of the Russian Federation who has been convicted by a Russian court under Russian law” are “categorically unacceptable”.

No sanctions against the oligarchs

Navalny himself and the European Parliament had called for entry bans to be imposed on oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin and for their assets in the EU to be frozen. However, according to EU diplomats, it is difficult to prove that they are directly responsible for the action against Navalny, which could lead to a challenge to the sanctions decisions.

Navalny’s colleague, Leonid Volkov, rejected this argument. Without the oligarchs loyal to Putin, the “machinery of repression” in Russia would be inconceivable, he said in Brussels. And the oligarchs in turn benefited from this. If the EU sanctions are “only about ten Kremlin representatives who do not travel abroad and have no assets abroad”, then the sanctions “are not painful”.

Relationships in the background?

Maas and others had come out clearly in favor of new punitive measures before the EU decision. “When Navalny was poisoned, we made it clear that we were not prepared to accept a violation of international law, and we imposed sanctions,” the foreign minister said.

The new sanctions now should also be a sign that the EU will not simply accept certain things. At the same time, he stressed the need to maintain a dialogue with Moscow, even if the relationship was “certainly at a low point.” “We need Russia to resolve many international conflicts,” Maas said.

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn considers the situation to be even more critical. He expressed concern that relations between the EU and Russia have not hit rock bottom. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indirectly said that Russia was considering severing relations with the EU, Asselborn said. “So it’s deep.”

Penalty field for Navalny

The EU has been demanding Navalny’s release for about three weeks, so far without success. Moscow rejects this as interference in internal affairs.

The 44-year-old Kremlin critic was convicted in Moscow in early February because, in the judge’s opinion, he repeatedly violated probation conditions in a previous criminal case in 2014 for fraud and embezzlement. In an appeal process, the Judiciary confirmed the incarceration in a prison camp last Saturday. Also on Saturday, Navalny was sentenced to a fine for allegedly insulting a World War II veteran.

Sanctions after the Novichok attack

The opposition politician decided to return to his home country in January, despite the fact that he was the victim of an attack there with the neurotoxin Novichok, which is prohibited as a chemical weapon. He was then arrested upon arrival.

Due to the attack on Navalny, which was later dealt with in Germany, the EU has already imposed entry and property bans on people suspected of being responsible for President Putin last year. In Brussels, Russian government agencies are supposed to be behind the attack.