This Thursday, May 19, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the social and economic consequences that Russia’s war against Ukraine entails for the EU. Among other things, it demanded that personal sanctions are extended to include the people from our list.
The European Parliament calls on the Council to extend the list of individuals directly targeted by EU sanctions, including Russian oligarchs, taking into account the list of 6 000 individuals presented by Navalny’s Foundation
In addition, the European Parliament demanded the imposition of sanctions against Europeans holding positions in the management of major Russian companies.
The European Parliament notes that former politicians such as Esko Aho, Francois Fillon and Wolfgang Schüssel have recently resigned from their positions in Russian firms and strongly demands that others, such as Karin Kneissl and Gerhard Schröder, do the same; further calls on the Council to extend the list of individuals targeted by EU sanctions to the European members of the boards of major Russian companies and to politicians who continue to receive Russian money
Karin Kneissl and Gerhard Schroeder, both mentioned in the resolution, are old friends of Vladimir Putin. For years, the Kremlin has subtly influenced European politics: people loyal to it could count on high-paying positions in Russian state-owned companies after leaving their service. Leonid Volkov stressed this problem last year, testifying at the U.S. Congress Helsinki Commission. Kneissl is a member of the Rosneft board of directors; as for Schroeder, he has been its chairman until today, but has now stated that he is “unable to extend his term of office”. We hope that the other clauses included in the resolution will also be implemented.
The proposed resolution will need to be considered by the Council of the European Union, which will decide on new sanctions and other demands. We are glad to see that our talks with the representatives of the European Parliament have borne fruit, and we expect that Putin’s accomplices responsible for fomenting the war will be punished for their actions.