What EU Sanctions Mean for Nefarious Russian Interference
While much of the U.S. focused on its upcoming Presidential election in October, the EU and U.S. sanctioned Russian leadership for numerous offenses. On August 20th, Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, was poisoned with the chemical weapon Novichok. Navalny fell ill on a Russian domestic flight and was later transferred to a German hospital to recover. Novichok, the military-grade chemical nerve agent, is only accessible to the Russian government, according to Navalny, and reported by correspondents on international news . EU Formally Sanctions Six Russian Leaders for its Role in Poisoning Dissident In response, the EU revealed sanctions on October 15th in the form of asset freezes and travel bans for six senior Russian officials, including Aleksander Bortnikov, Russian Director of its Federal Security Service. Others designated include senior Kremlin officials, Sergei Kiriyenko and Andrei Yarin, and Presidential representative, Sergei Menyaylo, demonstrating the EU believes that the