EU countries float new Russia sanctions tool after Navalny’s death

At least four other countries are understood to support the idea, but didn’t sign the letter.

Currently, sanctions on Russian entities fall in two legal architectures. Both were adopted in 2014 and are related to the Kremlin’s now 10-year-old war against Ukraine. The coalition of eight hopes to establish a mechanism that specifically targets those involved in domestic repression in Russia, of which Navalny became the latest high-profile victim after he died in a prison camp north of the Arctic Circle.

“Mr. Navalny’s death is yet another sign of the accelerating and systematic repression in Russia,” the letter states, in agreement with Borrell’s reaction to the opposition’s figurehead’s passing. 

Such a regime would “provide a solid legal basis to list individuals from Russia’s repressive state apparatus, including those involved in politically motivated rulings against members of civil society, and the democratic opposition and their subsequent detention, such as those responsible within the judicial chain,” the signatories argue.  

A second idea the eight ministers put forward is “new listings of individuals and entities” involved in Russian repression under the EU’s relatively new Global Human Rights Sanctions regime. This would presumably work a lot faster than any “Navalny Act” since the latter would require a full-blown proposal and a procedure with a European Parliament due to go in campaign mode.

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.