DISINFO: An aggressive Russophobic lobby within the EU is responsible for EU sanctions against Russia
SUMMARY
The EU is obsessed with anti-Russian sanctions. An aggressive Russophobic lobby within the EU is responsible for EU sanctions imposed on Russia and for the threat of new sanctions. The structure of Russia-EU relations has been destroyed by Brussels in the wake of events in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation accusing the EU of Russophobia. This narrative seeks to obscure the reasons that led the EU to impose these sanctions, claiming that the latter are the result of the EU’s Russophobia.
It is not true that EU sanctions against Russia are the result of the EU’s alleged “obsession” with anti-Russian sanctions or because of pressure exerted by a “Russophobic lobby” inside the EU. The sanctions imposed by the European Union are based on objective and proven facts.
The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia since 2014, including targeted restrictive measures, as a result of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's destabilising actions in eastern Ukraine.
The EU imposed other sanctions in October 2020 on six senior Russian officials and one entity involved in the assassination attempt against Alexei Navalny using chemical weapons.
On March 2, 2021 the European Council imposed restrictive measures on four senior Russian officials responsible for serious human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as for widespread and systematic repression of freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and of freedom of opinion and expression in Russia. These officials were listed over their roles in the arbitrary arrest, prosecution and sentencing of Alexei Navalny as well as in the repression of peaceful protests in connection with his unlawful treatment.
This is the first time that the EU imposes sanctions in the framework of the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions, which enables the EU to target those responsible for acts such as genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations or abuses such as torture, slavery, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests or detentions.
Despite these issues and disagreements, the EU perceives Russia as a natural partner and a strategic player combating the regional and global challenges, and it seeks to keep channels of communication and cooperation with Russia open. The EU’s approach to Russia is guided by five principles agreed in 2016 and reaffirmed, most recently, by EU Foreign Ministers in October 2020.
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