Post #15982

🇪🇺🇷🇺 Politico: Eight European Union countries are demanding that the EU's diplomatic arm develop a new sanctions tool against Russia following the death of Alexei Navalny, according to a letter seen by Politico. ▪ Currently, sanctions against Russian organisations operate under two strands of legal architecture. Both were adopted in 2014. A coalition of eight countries hopes to create a mechanism specifically targeting those involved in Russia's internal repression, of which Navalny was the latest high-profile victim. ▪ Such a regime "would provide a solid legal basis for listing individuals from Russia's repressive state apparatus, including those involved in politically motivated decisions against representatives of civil society and democratic opposition, and their subsequent detention, such as those responsible in the judiciary," the letter's authors said. ▪ The second idea put forward by the eight EU ministers is new lists of individuals and entities involved in Russian repression as part of the EU's relatively new global human rights sanctions regime. Presumably, this would work much faster than any "Navalny law", as the latter would require full-scale drafting and agreement by the European Parliament, which is now in pre-election mode. Access to discussion Subscribe to the channel