EU sanctions vs Russia, Myanmar set

The top diplomats from the 27-nation bloc meet in Brussels for talks that will also include a wide-ranging videoconference with new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — European Union (EU) foreign ministers are expected Monday to approve sanctions against those behind Russia’s crackdown on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his supporters, as well as those responsible for the coup in Myanmar. The top diplomats from the 27-nation bloc meet in Brussels for talks that will also include a wide-ranging videoconference with new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

But it will be responses to a raft of abuses in various regions that will dominate, with Venezuelan authorities also in the crosshairs over widely-criticized elections last year. The move to target the Kremlin comes two weeks after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was caught in a diplomatic ambush in Moscow that enraged member states.

I expect a political agreement to be

reached.

Capitals are eyeing using the EU’s new human rights sanctions regime for the first time to hit individuals responsible for the clampdown with asset freezes and visa bans, diplomats said.

“I expect a political agreement to be reached,” a senior European diplomat told AFP.

“Then experts from the member states should work on the names.”

Late Sunday, two of Navalny’s closest allies met in Brussels with eight EU foreign ministers and several EU ambassadors ahead of Monday’s meeting.

One of the allies, Leonid Volkov, told AFP they “talked about targeted personal sanctions against Putin’s closest allies and people who are guilty of major human rights violations.”

But European diplomats say only those directly implicated in Russia’s treatment of Navalny can be targeted because the list needs to stand up to any challenge in court.

The Sunday meeting was organized by Lithuania, whose foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, did not identify the other EU participants.