MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) The wording on the basis of which the new EU sanctions were adopted is strange, political connection to the situation with Alexey Navalny is difficult to explain, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's permanent representative to the European Union, said on Tuesday.
The European Union on Tuesday imposed its first sanctions under the new global human rights violations act against four Russian citizens for the arrest of Navalny. The sanctions list includes Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, Investigative Committee head Nikolai Bastrykin, Federal Penitentiary Service head Alexander Kalashnikov and National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov.
"Regarding the softness or harshness [of the sanctions adopted], I think this is not a matter of principle, but the very fact of the appearance of such a list in such a wording, which, I must say, I think, will look rather strange for any unbiased specialist and lawyer. I'm not even talking about the fact that the four most worthy leaders of the Russian law enforcement agencies, to associate them with a man named Navalny, is clearly a political connection that is logically difficult to explain," Chizhov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
The actions of the European Union are driving relations with Russia into a dead end, Chizhov said.
"We are talking about actions that are driving our relations with the European Union into a dead end, into a corner from which it will be more and more difficult to get out. And we will have to get out � the sooner our partners understand this in the European Union, the easier it will be," he said.
A response to the new anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union will follow, Chizhov said.
"I think that gradually here in Europe, at least, everyone is realizing that this so-called sanction potential is already almost exhausted, because there is practically no result from these unilateral restrictions, except, of course, Russian retaliatory measures, which were taken in previous times and, I can assure you that they will take place now," he said.
He noted that the decision on the response to the sanctions would be made at the political level in Moscow.
