Sanctions imposed after Navalny's death stall major EU package – Lithuanian formin

VILNIUS – The EU cannot adopt a new major sanction package against Russia or provide additional military aid to Ukraine after it adopted sanctions against those involved in the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.

"The Navalny sanctions have been confirmed," the minister told reporters in Brussels ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. "(We will discuss - BNS) the 14th package, but I probably can no longer avoid the irony and will say that we will talk about what we cannot do. We cannot adopt a new major package of sanctions, we cannot approve additional military support for Ukraine," Landsbergis said, adding that this Council will try to persuade colleagues, but "it is more or less clear where these talks are going."

Landsbergis called the sanctions imposed after Navalny's death a fair but minimal step.

"These are more of personal sanctions against the people who contributed to his death," he said.

On the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU formally imposed a new package of sanctions on Moscow in late February, the 13th since the large-scale war started in February 2022. It includes export restrictions on three Chinese companies for supplying the Russian army and the blacklisting of a North Korean defense minister for supplying Moscow with missiles. The list also includes Turkish and Indian companies as the EU is increasingly targeting third countries that help Moscow evade its sanctions.

The package includes around 200 entities, mostly from the defense and security industries.

Some 1,500 Russian and Belarusian nationals and 207 entities are currently subject to the EU sanctions.