EU Council Announced Sanctions on 30 People Deemed Responsible for the Death of Navalny

flags of eu member countries EU foreign policy minister Josep Borrell announced last Monday that sanctions will be imposed on unnamed 30 people and organisations deemed responsible for Navalny’s death. The announcement was made after Vladimir Putin proclaimed himself as the reelected president of Russia based on the result of a recently held election.

While the governments of North Korea, India and China sent congratulatory messages to Putin, Western governments deem the election as unconstitutional and unfair.

Arctic Prison Declared Navalny’s Death as Due to Natural Causes

According to the autopsy report and death certificate released by the authorities of the Arctic prison that held Alexei Navalny, the prominent Russian political activist died of natural causes.last February 16, 2024.

However, Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya believes that Putin ordered him killed. Details of the 47-year old political activist’s death were not immediately available since authorities claimed that investigations and an autopsy were being conducted.

russian protesters versus putinYet other Russian opposition leaders and critics of Putin believed that authorities intentionally delayed the release of Navalny’s body, as a way to suppress the potential outpouring of sympathy for Navalny prior to the forthcoming sham election. Navalny’s remains were released to his mother two weeks later after investigators supposedly performed a chemical analysis.

Previous Attempt to Kill Navalny by Way of Poisoning

Apparently, the purported need for a chemical analysis stemmed from the 2020 poisoning incident that almost killed Navalny. The activist had accused the Russian security agencyFSB of poisoning him with Novichok, a nerve agent locally manufactured in Russia.

The poison was analysed by a European lab in Germany, which identified it as the same poison used to kill Sergei Skripal and his wife Yulia. Skripal was a former high ranking official of the Russian military, but doubled as a spy for the British Intelligence Agency.

Navalny was later arrested upon his return to Russia In January 2021.

U.S. Sanctions Top Russian Officials for Poisoning Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny

The United States under Biden’s administrations and in coordination with the European Union has sanctioned senior Russia officials for poisoning Alexei Navalny. US officials stated that their intelligence reports confirmed that the near-fatal attack on the most vocal of President Putin’s critics was conducted last year by the Moscow government.

Moscow on the other hand, has denied the accusation and that they were not responsible for Navalny’s poisoning by way of a Novichok agent. ‘Novichok in Russia, while meaning newcomer, also refers to nerve-attack substances invented during the Cold War and used by the Soviet Union. They are known to kill an individual by causing asphyxiation, while paralysing muscles as soon as injected intomthe body.

Who is Alexei Navalny?

Alexei Navalny is also an influential lawyer-blogger who became the leader of the opposition group that has been exposing the corruption in Putin’s administration. Navalny has millions of Russian followers on social media, mostly in the age group of early 20s and younger; a following that has managed to get some of Navalny’s supporters appointed last year, to local councils in Siberia.

After five months of recuperating in Berlin, Navalny was able to recover from the nerve agent attack,but decided to return to Moscow last January 17 but was immediately arrested. However, his arrest triggered mass protests from all over Russia, leading to numerous arrests of Navalny’s supporters, while local police forcibly detained those who attended the protest rallies.

Navalny mentioned that the United Russia party is filled with thieves and crooks, and accused Russian president Putin of bloodsucking Russia through a feudal state.

Navalny’s Corruption Allegations Against Putin

Using his ability to speak the street language used in social media by the younger generations of Russians, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has been publishing detailed claims concerning the corruption among officials in the Russian government.

The most recent was a video called “Putin’s Palace” where it describes the huge and extensively luxurious Black Sea palace allegedly gifted to Putin by his rich connections. Most of who are owners of businesses such as casinos, vineyards, and a skating rink. A hundred million has viewed the video and it was published soon after Navalny was arrested.

Putin of course denied the allegations that it was a gift to him, calling the video boring, while Kremlin disregarded it as a sham. After a while, one of the Russian president’s closest billionaire friend, businessman Arkady Rotenburg, stepped up and claimed that the palace belonged to him. .