The European Union announced in a statement on Monday the expansion of its list of sanctions on the use of chemical weapons to include two Syrian personalities and one Syrian company.
The new lists include ten individuals and one company linked to the poisoning of Alexei Navalny (one of President Putin’s fiercest critics who was poisoned in 2020 with a nerve agent) and the production and deployment of chemical weapons in Syria, the EU said in a statement.
According to the EU, the list included two Canadian citizens of Syrian origin and their commercial structure, “Nazir Houranieh & Sons.” They are allegedly involved in supplying the Syrian Research Center with materials used to transport chemical weapons.
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The chemical weapons sanctions list now includes 25 individuals, “seven defendants linked to the Syrian authorities, four deemed to have been involved in the use of a toxic substance, against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 (poisoned in Britain, and that operation caused the largest diplomatic crisis between the West and Russia). The rest are considered linked to the European Union, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, and three organizations, two Syrian and one Russian.”
The two Russian citizens listed are officers of the Russian Federal Security Service and Russian experts in the field of chemical weapons.
The EU began imposing sanctions on the regime in August 2011 in response to its crackdown on civilian protests and abuses by its forces against Syrians. The EU reviews sanctions on an annual basis.
European sanctions on the regime include an oil embargo, restrictions on certain investments, and a freeze on the Central Bank of Syria’s assets in Europe. In addition to restrictions on the export of equipment and technology, which could be used for internal repression, as well as equipment and technology that could be used to monitor or intercept Internet or telephone communications.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
