The European Union condemned Russia’s sanctions and warned it reserved the right to respond

Russia announced sanctions on eight European Union officials on Friday in retaliation for measures imposed by Brussels in March, to which the Community institutions replied that they reserved the right to adopt new measures.

“The European Union is continuing its policy of illegitimate unilateral restrictions against Russian citizens and organizations,” said Moscow, who entry ban eight senior officials, including the President of the European Parliament.

“The EU reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response to the decision of the Russian authorities”, The presidents of the three EU institutions – the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission – responded in a joint statement.

Among those sanctioned by Moscow are David Maria Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, and Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of values ​​and transparency.

“Apparently I am not welcome in the Kremlin. I suspected it … No sanction or intimidation will prevent the European Parliament or myself from defending human rights, freedom and democracy. Threats won’t silence usSassoli reacted in a message on his Twitter account.

According to the press release from Russian diplomacy, Moscow is responding to the sanctions imposed by the EU on March 2 and 22 on Russian citizens, acts which, according to Moscow, are aimed at “openly contesting the independence of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. . . “.

On March 2, the EU announced that it was imposing sanctions on four Russians whom it accused of serious human rights violations, such as the arbitrary arrests and detentions – in particular of opposition leader Alexei Navalny – as well as the massive and systematic crackdown on freedom of peaceful assembly in Russia following the marches that took place to protest the arrest.

These measures included the the ban on entry into the territory of the EU and the freezing of the assets of those responsible, among them the head of the Russian investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, and the public prosecutor, Igor Krasnov.

On March 22, the Council of the EU decided to introduce restrictive measures against those responsible for serious human rights violations in various countries around the world, mainly for the torture and repression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and political opponents in Chechnya, a republic in the Russian Caucasus.

The crossing of sanctions is the latest episode in the deterioration of relations between Moscow and the bloc. These were already worn since the end of 2020 when the two sides clashed due to the crisis in Belarus, considering Moscow’s support for Minsk dictator Alexandr Lukashenko, who for weeks suppressed protests against him after winning an election widely described as fraudulent by the international community.

Since then, the parties have also clashed the mobilization of Russian troops towards Crimea and the border with UkraineActions that Brussels categorically condemned before Moscow ordered its withdrawal to defuse tensions.

With information from AFP

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