EU Sanctions To Target FSB Chief Bortnikov, Other Senior Russian Officials - Reports

Faizan Hashmi Published October 14, 2020 | 08:40 PM

The European Union is readying to sanction senior Russian officials, including Federal Security Service chief Aleksandr Bortnikov and first deputy chief of staff in the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko, over the alleged poisoning of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, the New York Times reported on Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th October, 2020) The European Union is readying to sanction senior Russian officials, including Federal Security Service chief Aleksandr Bortnikov and first deputy chief of staff in the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko, over the alleged poisoning of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The Russian authorities have denied any wrongdoing regarding Navalny and threatened to respond in kind to the potential EU sanctions, which are expected to target one organization and six individuals with asset freezes and travel bans.

"Several of those facing penalties are members of the tight circle of elites who for years have surrounded the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin: Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of Russia's domestic spy agency, the Federal Security Service; Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff in the presidential administration; and Andrei Yarin, the head of the presidential administration's domestic policy directorate," the report said citing senior European Union officials.

Others targeted officials include two deputy defense ministers Aleksei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov and the Russian President's envoy to the Siberian Federal District Sergei Menyaylo.

The European Union is also expected to impose sanctions on the Russian State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, which is suspected by Western intelligence services of developing the Novichok nerve agent allegedly used to poison Navalny.

Navalny was transported to Germany after he fell ill on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow in late August. Following his arrival in Berlin, the German government alleged that traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group had been found in his system.

Russian doctors who treated Navalny in the city of Omsk have said that no poisonous substances were detected when they undertook tests.