EU Council sanctions Russian officials under human rights regime for Navalny imprisonment

On 2 March 2021, the EU Council imposed restrictive measures on four Russian individuals considered responsible for serious human rights violations, over their roles in the arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Alexei Navalny, as well as the repression of peaceful protests in connection with his unlawful treatment.

This is the first time that the EU has imposed sanctions under its new European Union Global Human Rights [Sanctions] Regime which was established on 7 December 2020.

The restrictive measures that entered into force against the four consist of a travel ban and asset freeze. In addition, persons and entities in the EU are prohibited from making funds available to those listed, either directly or indirectly.

The adopted Regulation published in the EU’s official journal can be found here and the Decision can be found here. The press release can be found here.

The new listing is in addition to the listing of six individuals and one entity (in the EU and UK) believed to have been involved in Navalny’s poisoning. For more on these measures please see our previous blog post here.