An EU diplomat told Reuters on Thursday with a view to the meeting of the 27 heads of state and government on March 25 and 26 that he expected the punitive measures to be taken before the EU summit. The EU threatens to freeze accounts of allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and to impose travel bans.
Whether so-called oligarchs – influential and wealthy business people – should also be affected remains open at first. This was what followers of Navalny demanded. A preliminary decision on the sanctions is to be made at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on February 22nd.
“Sanctions are needed quickly”
“Sanctions are needed quickly, otherwise their effects will be weakened,” said another EU diplomat. Relations between the Union and Russia had deteriorated further at the beginning of February when a German, a Polish and a Swedish diplomat were deported during a visit to Moscow by the EU foreign representative Josep Borell.
Navalny was arrested in January after returning from Germany, where he had been treated for a poison attack in Russia. Shortly afterwards, he was sentenced to several years in prison for allegedly violating probation conditions from a previous sentence while he was recovering in Germany.
(Reuters)
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