Moscow mayor and Putin’s ‘bikers’ among latest EU sanctions

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The latest update of the list of those sanctioned by the European Union for their support to Vladimir Putin’s regime in the war against Ukraine includes names such as the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, and members of the ‘Night Wolves’ biker club, considered a propaganda weapon of the Kremlin.

The EU-27 adopted last Wednesday a seventh package of coercive measures over the war in Ukraine to close loopholes in previous rounds that allowed those sanctioned to evade retaliation, but also updated the list of sanctioned to add half a hundred names and banned gold imports.

Specifically, among the 54 individuals and ten entities included in the latest revision of the list of names whose assets in the EU will be frozen and who have the border closed to enter EU territory are political and cultural leaders, members of the national and regional Duma and local politicians, such as the mayor of Moscow.

Members of the nationalist biker club ‘Nochnye Volki’ (‘Night Wolves’ in Russian) for their support of Putin’s regime will also be sanctioned, the Council of the EU said in a statement, which also reports the inclusion of political appointees in the Ukrainian territories invaded by Russia.

Also the main Russian bank, Sberbank, will see its assets in the EU frozen as a result of its entry into the category of sanctioned entities, just as companies in the military and shipbuilding industry and companies linked to the theft of Ukrainian grain have been included.

The scope of sanctioned organizations also includes groups that have contributed to the dissemination of pro-Kremlin and anti-Ukrainian propaganda. The EU has also decided to apply an asset freeze and entry veto to a number of high-ranking officials in Syria for their complicity with Russia.

Thus, a total of 1,212 individuals and 108 entities complete the list of those sanctioned by the European Union in response to their collusion and support for the Russian regime in its “brutal” offensive against Ukraine. In the case of individuals, the ban on entry to EU soil includes a ban on transit through the EU.