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EU Foreign Ministers to approve sanctions mechanism for violations of human rights

The agenda of the last meeting of the EU Council includes a discussion of relations with the United States, Turkey, Venezuela, Georgia, as well as issues of developing the EU's strategic autonomy

BRUSSELS, December 7. /TASS/. Foreign ministers of the EU countries will approve at a meeting in Brussels on Monday a mechanism of sanctions for violations of human rights in third countries, which, according to the European Union, will not be a copy of the US Magnitsky Act. In addition, the agenda of the last meeting of the EU Council at the level of EU foreign ministers this year includes a discussion of relations with the United States, Turkey, Venezuela, Georgia, as well as issues of developing the EU's strategic autonomy.

This meeting will be a preparation for the foreign policy discussion at the EU Heads of State and Government Summit on December 10-11.

A European source said earlier that the sanctions, in their essence, will not differ from the currently effective community restrictive measures in the field of human rights violations against individual states, for example, Belarus, Myanmar, Iran. The new regime includes creation of a black list, all people on which will be prohibited from entering the territory of the European Union, and their financial assets in the EU would be frozen.

On December 2, the ambassadors of the EU states agreed on this sanctions regime. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced development in the EU of a European analogue of the Magnitsky Act in September. Speaking at the European Parliament on September 15, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell proposed linking these sanctions with the name of Alexey Navalny, but this idea did not receive support.

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