EU countries agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on 30 Russian officials following the death of Alexei Navalny last month.
“We agreed on sanctions against those responsible for the assassination of Alexei Navalny“, declared Josep Borrell, after a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Alexeï Navalny, one of the figures of the Russian opposition, died in February in an Arctic prison where he was held in difficult conditions.
According to Russian authorities, he collapsed during a walk, but the exact circumstances of his death have not yet been determined.
For the European Union, it is Vladimir Putin and his entourage who are responsible.
The European Union sanctions concern travel bans and the freezing of assets of 30 individuals and entities, representatives of the judicial world and the prison administration.
The names of those sanctioned should be published in the coming days in the Official Journal of the EU.
Those close to the opponent, however, said the limited targeting of a small number of prison officials was purely symbolic and would have no impact on the Kremlin.
These new sanctions come the day after the re-election of Vladimir Putin for a new six-year term, following elections denounced by several Western countries.
During this meeting, European ministers also agreed on a new tranche of military aid of 5 billion euros for Ukraine.