The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on six Russian scientists and researchers for their alleged involvement in the development of chemical weapons, including epibatidine, the substance the EU says was identified in samples taken from Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny following his death on 16 February 2024.
In a statement announcing the measures, the Council of the European Union said poisoning with epibatidine was considered the "highly likely" cause of Navalny's death while he was being held in a remote Russian penal colony.
Specific individuals
Those sanctioned are senior military officials and researchers alleged to have been directly involved in the research and development of chemical agents for military purposes.
Among those listed is Igor Babkin, head of the laboratory at the Signal Scientific Centre, where research into the synthesis of epibatidine was carried out and published, contributing, according to the EU, to its development as a chemical weapon.
Also sanctioned are Irina Derevyagina, a chemical analyst at the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology and a senior figure in Russia's chemical weapons programme, and Mikhail Gutsalyuk, head of the Department for the Organisation of Scientific Work and Scientific Personnel Training at the Military Academy of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence.
The sanctions include asset freezes within the EU, a ban on making funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly, to the listed individuals, and travel bans preventing them from entering or transiting through EU member states.
Chemical weapons
With Friday's additions, the EU's chemical weapons sanctions regime now covers 31 individuals and six entities.
The Council said the measures reaffirm the EU's commitment to combating the proliferation and use of chemical weapons and to upholding the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
It also recalled that the European Council condemned the use of chemical weapons as "completely unacceptable" and a threat to global security in conclusions adopted on 22 March 2018. The legal framework for restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons was established on 15 October 2018.
The latest sanctions will remain in force until 16 October 2026, unless they are renewed or amended earlier. The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Source: CNA
