The European Union announced sanctions on a group of top Russian officials who they claim had a hand in the poisoning of anti- Vladimir Putin dissident Alexei Navalny.
In a statement released by the Council of the European Union, the multi-national group said it had levied travel restrictions and an asset freeze on six individuals and one entity connected to what they called an “assassination attempt” on Navalny.
“The Council today imposed restrictive measures against six individuals and one entity involved in the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with a toxic nerve agent of the ‘Novichok’ group on 20 August 2020 in Russia.”
Navalny, who rose to political prominence in Russia through his dogged criticism of the Kremlin, became ill during an August flight to Moscow and fell into a coma from which he woke on Sept. 7 in a German hospital that he had been flown to by the non-governmental organization Cinema for Peace.
German doctors assessing Navalny claim he was poisoned by a toxic nerve agent, but Russian officials have refused to accept blame for his mysterious illness.
In a statement released following the sanctions, the U.K. Foreign Ministry said the punishment was fair and called on Kremlin officials to open an investigation into the poisoning of Navalny.
“Today’s asset freezes and travel bans significantly punish Russia’s reckless and malign behaviour,” the U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement. “The UK and its partners have agreed that there is no plausible explanation for Mr. Navalny’s poisoning, other than Russian involvement and responsibility. Russia must hold a full and transparent investigation into the poisoning of one of its citizens on its soil with a banned chemical weapon.”
