BRUSSELS, March 18. /TASS/. The foreign ministers of 27 European Union countries made a political decision to introduce sanctions against those who, according to the community, are responsible for the conditions of imprisonment and ultimate death of Alexey Navalny, a source in the delegation of one of the EU countries in the EU Council told TASS.
"Yes, at the meeting a political decision was reached to impose sanctions against individuals and legal entities of Russia responsible for the cruel conditions of imprisonment and the death of Alexey Navalny," the diplomat said.
According to the source, in the coming days the EU Council will formally approve the decision, which will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU and come into force.
"[Approval and publication] is expected in the coming days, before the end of this week," the source said.
As the EUobserver portal previously reported, the EU intends to impose sanctions against 35 Russian prison chiefs and judges allegedly involved in Navalny’s imprisonment. The IK-3 and IK-6 penal colonies will also be put on the EU blacklist.
In particular, according to the document studied by the portal, deputy head of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia Valery Boyarinev, Governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District Dmitry Artyukhov and a number of other officials and prison officers will fall under the new restrictions of the European Union.
On February 16, the Federal Penitentiary Service’s department for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District broke the news of Alexey Navalny’s sudden death in his penal colony. According to the penitentiary authority, Navalny felt sick after a walk and fainted. Medics arrived immediately but their resuscitation efforts failed. The funeral of Alexey Navalny was held at the Borisovskoye cemetery in Moscow on March 1.