The decision of the European Union to expand the sanctions list in the case of Alexei Navalny, founder of the Anti-Corruption Fund (FBK, is included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent) is a circus and humiliation for the association. This opinion was shared by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, quoted by RIA Novosti.
Zakharova stressed that the introduction of new sanctions by the European Union against Russia is beyond logic. “As soon as the logic disappears, respectively, we are dealing with an absurd story played out in advance with an information campaign scenario,” she said.
On Monday, February 22, it became known that the Council of the European Union decided to impose sanctions against persons associated with the conviction of Navalny. Then the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, called Russia “a neighbor who, however, behaves like a political opponent.” He later said that the European Union would prepare new anti-Russian sanctions within a week.
On February 2, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced Navalny’s suspended sentence with a real one for violating the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case. The UFSIN asked to appoint him a sentence of imprisonment in a colony for a period of 3.5 years. Navalny was charged with 60 violations of public order after a suspended sentence. He will stay in the colony for 2 years and 8 months, taking into account the year spent under house arrest during the preliminary investigation in the Yves Rocher case.
In December 2014, Navalny was sentenced to 3 years 6 months of suspended imprisonment with a fine of 500 thousand rubles on charges of committing fraudulent acts and money laundering (in the Yves Rocher case). His brother Oleg received the same sentence, but real.