The presidents of the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe groups in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, Iratxe García Pérez and Dacian Cioloș, called, on Wednesday 14 April, in a letter to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, for a new strategy towards Russia and the adoption of additional sanctions, due to the treatment of political opponent Alexei Navalny.
“The Navalny case is symptomatic of a regime that violates the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens” they stress in the letter obtained by EUROPE (https://bit.ly/2OR6GEf ).
The presidents claim that it is “becoming even more obvious” that a new strategy for relations with Russia is needed. This should be centred around support for civil society, the promotion of democratic values, the Rule of law, fundamental freedoms and human rights.
And while welcoming the adoption of measures against four Russian individuals responsible for serious human rights violations (see EUROPE 12669/36), they said they were “deeply convinced that these restrictions must go further, even more so in the light of the current events occurring at the border between Russia and Ukraine”.
They therefore reiterate the European Parliament’s call of 20 January to introduce sanctions against Russian oligarchs linked to the regime, members of President Putin’s inner circle, media propagandists who possess assets in the EU and who travel there freely and their immediate family members (see EUROPE 12641/8). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)