(Moscow) Imprisoned Russian opponent Alexei Navalny denounced, on Tuesday, the absence of systematic Western sanctions against the Russian oligarchy for supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime and its military intervention in Ukraine.
Posted yesterday at 4:08 pm.
In a message full of examples posted on his social networks, he said that only 46 of the 200 richest Russians, according to the magazine’s rating ForbesCurrently subject to US, EU or UK sanctions.
“To me, it doesn’t really look like an all-out war against Putin’s oligarchs,” he commented.
According to him, among others, CEO of the Russian giant Gazprom Alexei Miller is still not targeted by European sanctions, while the famous oligarch Roman Abramovich is still evading US sanctions.
The Abramovich companies continue to supply the Russian Ministry of Defense with minerals. How are they not being punished yet? Navalny asks.
“You can’t expect a rift among Putin’s elites about war, if you don’t use the stick against them and let them keep their islands, despite a lot of talk,” Navalny added.
It also proposes banning “for 20 years” from the US, UK and EU any Russian figure who openly supports the attack in Ukraine.
Conversely, he says, the “simple mechanism” for avoiding sanctions is to express openly against the attack in Ukraine and “stop supporting the Putin regime with words, deeds and money.”
“I call on voters and legislators in the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada to put pressure on the executive and compel it to stop exaggerating and imposing massive personal sanctions against Putin’s thieves,” Mr Navalny launched.
These statements come at a time when the European Union must consider, from the end of August, a visa ban for all Russians.
In March, Alexei Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison for fraud, which he considers bogus.
He was arrested in January 2021, upon his return to Russia after receiving treatment in Germany for a serious poisoning he attributed to the Kremlin, which the latter denies.
From his prison near the town of Vladimir, 200 kilometers east of Moscow, he continues to send letters to his lawyer.
His anti-corruption organization maintains a list of more than 6,000 Russian officials accused of supporting the Kremlin’s attack in Ukraine.
