BRUSSELS, October 11./TASS/. The European Union has renewed for one year, until October 16, 2022 the restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons, says a press release of the Council of the European Union circulated in Brussels on Monday. There are also Russian nationals on the list, in particular Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who the British secret services call ‘GRU agents’.
"The Council today decided to extend the restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons for an additional year, until 16 October 2022. The current sanctions regime was first introduced in 2018 to target individuals and entities directly responsible for the development and use of chemical weapons, as well as those providing financial, technical or material support," the document said.
The Council says that the restrictive measures currently target 15 persons and two entities. These are the persons connected with attacks in Syria and Salisbury. In the latter case, they target Petrov and Boshirov, who earlier denied all accusations in an interview with RT. Besides, the sanctions were imposed against the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center.
The restrictive measures "consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for individuals, and an asset freeze for entities. Additionally, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed," the statement explained. This sanctions regime was first introduced in 2018 with sanctions renewed every year since then.
The Salisbury incident
According to the UK version, on March 4, 2018, former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal, convicted in Russia for espionage, and his daughter Yulia were affected by a nerve agent in the town of Salisbury. Later, London claimed that the nerve agent was allegedly being developed in Russia, and used the fact to accuse Moscow of involvement in the incident. Russia has vehemently rejected all accusations. Specialists from the UK’s Porton Down laboratory were unable to determine the origin of the substance that the Skripals were allegedly poisoned with.
On September 5, 2018, then-Prime Minister Theresa May informed the British Cabinet about the conclusions of the investigation, claiming that the two suspects are Russian citizens who carried passports in names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, calling them "GRU agents." Petrov and Boshirov later gave an interview for RT, denying these accusations.