Kremlin critic Navalny bemoans the West’s lame reactions to the Ukraine war. The sanctions would only affect 46 of the 200 richest people in Russia – among other things, Gazprom boss Miller is not on the EU sanctions list. The West does not use the whip.
The imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has called for far more extensive sanctions from the West against Russian oligarchs because of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The opposition politician wrote online that Western sanctions have so far only affected 46 of the 200 richest people in Russia, according to Forbes magazine. “It doesn’t sound like a full-scale war against Putin’s oligarchs to me,” Navalny said.
For example, the head of the Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexej Miller, is still not on the European Union’s sanctions list. The oligarch Roman Abramovich, on the other hand, was not subject to US sanctions, although his companies supplied “metal to the Russian Defense Ministry”. The West is still not using the “stick” against the elite around President Vladimir Putin and is giving them “all their carrots,” criticized Navalny.
“I call on all voters and parliamentarians in the EU, in Great Britain, in the USA and Canada to put pressure on the executive and force them to stop practicing demagogy and urgently decide on massive personal sanctions against Putin’s thieves,” said Navalny out.
The 46-year-old is Putin’s most prominent critic and became known for calling for mass protests and exposing cases of corruption in Russia. He is currently serving a nine-year sentence in a penal colony on charges of embezzlement. He describes the allegations as politically motivated.
Navalny was arrested at Moscow Airport on his return from Germany in January 2021. He had previously been treated in Berlin for poisoning he suffered in Russia with a neurotoxin from the Novichok group, for which he blames the Kremlin.
