EU sanctions Vladimir Putin allies over Alexei Navalny’s jailing
Alexei Navalny’s chief aide urges European policymakers to speak to the Russian president in ‘the language of power’.
Four of President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal security service allies are having sanctions imposed on them by the EU over the Kremlin’s crackdown on Alexei Navalny, as the bloc ignored threats from Moscow that it would sever diplomatic ties.
The four officials to be subject to visa bans and asset freezes are said to include Alexei Bastyrkhin, the head of the powerful Investigative Committee, and Viktor Zolotov, who leads the National Guard. Both men are long-time associates of Mr Putin.
Russia’s prosecutor general and the head of the FSIN prison service are also believed to be on the list, Reuters reported on Tuesday. The sanctions list will be finalised after it has been approved by EU lawyers.
Ms Bastyrkin, 67, has already been sanctioned by Britain and the US.
The decision comes days after the European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to release the Kremlin critic over fears that he could be killed behind bars. However, the EU’s move will be seen as a largely symbolic gesture since the officials concerned rarely leave Russia and are not known to hold significant assets in Europe. It also falls far short of the measures that Mr Navalny’s allies had been lobbying for.
Moscow had warned that Russia could sever diplomatic ties with the EU if it imposed fresh sanctions.
“Russia is on a confrontational course with the European Union,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said before Monday night’s talks in Brussels.
Mr Navalny, 44, was sentenced earlier this month to spend 2½ years in prison on fraud charges that he says are politically motivated.
He was arrested when he flew back to Russia from Germany in January after surviving a nerve agent poisoning that he said was ordered by Mr Putin.
More than 11,000 people were arrested and about 130 injured as riot police used electric stun guns and truncheons to disperse nationwide protests to demand his release.
The Kremlin critic’s supporters recently published a list of 35 Russians they wanted Western countries to sanction.
The list includes Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire businessman who is close to Mr Putin, and Margarita Simonyan, the head of the Kremlin-funded Russia Today television channel.
Monday night’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels came after Leonid Volkov, Mr Navalny’s chief aide, urged European policymakers to speak to Mr Putin in “the language of power”.
“Putin is a dictator, but he is quite rational. If the upsides of having Navalny in prison become less than the downsides, he will change his decision,” said Mr Volkov, who held talks with several EU diplomats.
Mr Navalny’s appeal against his prison sentence was rejected on Saturday by a court in Moscow, days after the call by the European Court of Human Rights for his release.
Moscow slammed the demand as “crude” interference in its domestic affairs.
The Kremlin’s refusal to implement the order could now see Russia expelled from the Council of Europe, which oversees the court’s work.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had said that Berlin was in favour of targeted sanctions against individuals close to Mt Putin, but stressed the need to maintain dialogue with Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected calls to scrap an underwater gas pipeline project with Russia in response to Mr Navalny’s treatment.
Russian officials and pro-Kremlin figures have urged punishments for Russians who support sanctions, ranging from treason charges to laws that would allow them to be deprived of their citizenship.
Mr Volkov, 40, was keen to stress, however, that the opposition is not calling for sanctions that would affect the living standards of the Russian people.
“Our goal is to identify and freeze assets consisting of tens and hundreds of billions of dollars stolen from the Russian people. It’s hard to think of anything more patriotic,” he said.
The Times
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