(Adnkronos) – The Council of the European Union has decided to impose sanctions against six Russian citizens involved in the development of chemical weapons, in particular epibatidine, a toxin detected in samples taken from the body of dissident Alexei Navalny after his death in a Russian penal colony and indicated as the probable cause of his death. This was announced in an official statement.
The sanctioned individuals are scientists and researchers in the military field, and some of them have worked for the Signal Scientific Center (also known as SC Signal), where they conducted research and published articles on the synthesis of epibatidine, thus being involved in its development as a chemical weapon, as explained in the text. These include Igor Babkin, head of the SC Signal laboratory, and Irina Derevyagina, chemical research analyst at the Russian State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT), a central part of the Russian chemical weapons program, and Mikhail Gutsalyuk, head of the department for the organization of scientific work and the training of scientific and pedagogical staff at the Military Academy of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense.
With the latest addition to the sanctions list, the EU’s restrictive measures against the use and proliferation of chemical weapons now apply to a total of 31 individuals and 6 entities. Those placed under the sanctions regime are subject to asset freezes and a ban on entry into the EU, and the direct or indirect provision of funds or economic resources to them is prohibited.
