The Council of the European Union on Monday, December 16, for the first time in history introduced restrictive measures against 16 individuals and three legal entities responsible for Russia’s destabilizing actions abroad.
The new EU sanctions are a response to Russia’s “malicious actions and its disrespect for the rules-based international order and international law.”
The blacklist included Unit 29155 of the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff, which was involved in assassinations abroad and destabilizing activities such as bombings and cyber attacks across Europe.
The EU also sanctioned the Pan-African Trade and Investment Group, a disinformation network running pro-Russian covert influence operations in Africa, and its founder Haroun Duamba.
The EU sanctions were imposed on the African Initiative, a news agency that disseminates Russian propaganda and disinformation in Africa, its editor-in-chief and employee of the Russian Federal Security Service Artem Kureev, and a senior GRU official who took over leadership after the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Earlier, the EU adopted the 15th package of sanctions against Russia. The sanctioned list includes 54 individuals and 30 organizations from Russia, China and the DPRK. These are, in particular, the military unit involved in the attack on the Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv, the management of companies in the energy sector, as well as those responsible for the deportation of children, propaganda and circumvention of sanctions.
Sanctions were also imposed against two high-ranking DPRK officials.
Among the organizations subject to the new sanctions, primarily Russian defense companies and shipping companies responsible for transporting crude oil and petroleum products by sea. The list included a chemical plant, a civilian Russian airline and Chinese entities supplying Moscow with components for UAVs.
In addition, the EU introduced new sanctions against the henchmen of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. We are talking about 26 people and two organizations from Belarus. In particular, the sanctions concern various judges who handed down politically motivated sentences against citizens who do not support Lukashenko’s regime.
Restrictions were also introduced against the heads of various prisons and pre-trial detention centers where political prisoners are serving their sentences, and the head of the medical unit of one of these institutions where prisoners are in inhumane conditions.
The sanctioned list also included business owners who benefited from Lukashenko’s regime. The point is that they were given privileges that helped circumvent existing EU sanctions.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.