Brussels – EU foreign ministers today approved the imposition of sanctions on another ten individuals in connection with human rights violations in Russia. This includes, among others, representatives of the Russian prison system responsible for the systematic torture and inhumane treatment of Ukrainian prisoners, which often resulted in the deaths of detainees, as in the case of Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roschynova. The inclusion of these individuals on the EU sanctions list was proposed by the Czech Republic, informed the Czech Republic’s permanent representation to the EU on social network X. The outgoing head of diplomacy Jan Lipavský represented the Czech Republic at the meeting.
“I am very pleased that today the European Union adopted sanctions based on the Czech proposal. These are individuals who create what we can call totalitarianism or a dictatorial regime in Russia,” Lipavský said after the meeting. “There are ten individuals, they are judges, investigators, people who investigate for political reasons and carry out repressions,” he added. According to him, the approval of the Czech proposal is a clear signal of where “the European Union stands and where Czech diplomacy stands.”
Entities on the EU sanctions lists have all their accounts in EU banks frozen, and individuals are banned from traveling anywhere in the European Union.
Currently, over 50 sanction regimes are applied in the European Union, affecting nearly 5000 individuals and entities. They were introduced in response to the situation in certain countries, such as Russia, Belarus, Iran, and North Korea. In addition, the EU has also adopted so-called thematic sanction regimes, which are focused on issues such as terrorism, human rights violations, activities related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the use of chemical weapons, or cyberattacks. (November 20)