MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Administration does not have a working group, dedicated to discrediting of blogger Alexey Navalny, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday.
"This is not true," he said, answering a question on existence of such working group in the Kremlin.
Peskov underscored that "a decision to condition the relations between the EU and Moscow on a person, whom Europe considers a leader of some opposition causes nothing but regret."
Answering a question, whether Kremlin ties the new sanctions with the Navalny’s persona instead of the alleged use of "chemical weapons," the spokesman redirected this question to the European Union.
Earlier on Thursday, the EU published the European Council’s ruling, which included FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko and four more senior Russian officials in the EU blacklist, established over the Navalny incident. The list also includes the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, barring EU businessmen from having any relations with this organization.
The new sanctions include entry ban and suspension of all financial assets in the European banks. The sanctions have been imposed within the special regime, established by the EU for use of chemical weapons. The imposition of sanctions is motivated as follows: "it is reasonable to conclude that the poisoning was only possible with the involvement of the Federal Security Service." This language is preceded by individual motivation for each separate official.