Russia imposed an entry ban on eight European officials, including politicians from the European Union, in response to European sanctions against four Russians in March. They include European Commission Vice President Vera Gorova (judge) and David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament.
In March, the European Union adopted sanctions against two Russians allegedly involved in the persecution of homosexuals in Russia’s Chechnya region. Four Russians accompanying President Vladimir Putin have also been placed on the sanctions list for trying opposition leader Alexei Navalny and quelling protests. This is the Russian Attorney General, the head of the so-called Investigation Committee, which is directly affiliated with the president and investigates major criminal cases.
At the time, Moscow said it would come up with countermeasures that “are not necessarily the same.” The Foreign Ministry now says the European Union “continues its policy of unilateral and illegal restrictive measures against Russian citizens and organizations.”
David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, says he is unimpressed by the travel ban imposed by Russia against him and seven other politicians in the European Union. Apparently I’m not welcome in the Kremlin? I expected it a little ‘, apparently on Twitter.
The Social Democrat added that “no punishment or intimidation will prevent the European Parliament or myself from defending human rights, freedom and democracy.”
In addition to Yurova and Sasoli, the Russian sanctions list includes six officials from countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. They include Berlin prosecutor Jörg Raubach and Sweden’s Osa Scott, who also discovered last year that Navalny had been poisoned with Novichok, a nerve gas developed in the Soviet Union.
‘Unacceptable’
Alongside European President Charles Michel and Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen, he also sent Sassoli Press release condemning the penalties. This act is unacceptable, lacks any legal justification, and is absolutely unfounded. It focuses squarely on the European Union, not just the people involved.
This decision is the latest stark example of the way the Russian Federation has chosen to confront the European Union, rather than agreeing to try to restore our bilateral relations. The European Union reserves the right to take appropriate action in response to the decision of the Russian authorities.
Liberal European Parliament member Guy Verhofstadt called on Twitter the European Union to “bypass symbolic sanctions and severely strike the oligarchs around Putin”. According to Verhofstadt, Sassoli and Jourová are doing well: our former prime minister was also On the Russian blacklist.
