EU agrees sanctions on four senior Russian officials

BRUSSELS: EU member states on Monday approved sanctions to be slapped on four senior Russian justice and law enforcement officials involved in the detention of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Diplomatic sources told AFP the names would be published in the bloc’s official journal on Tuesday, after envoys from member states approved the list of targets drawn up by Brussels.

According to two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, the targeted Russians are: Alexander Kalashnikov, federal prisons administrator; Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of Russia; Igor Krasnov, prosecutor general; and Viktor Zolotov, director of the National Guard.

The four are the first individuals to be targeted under the EU’s new human rights sanctions regime, which came into effect in December.