Russia, sanctions and Navalny

veebr. 5, 2021 Estonian Life No. 5 2021

Since the foreign ministers of the European Union failed to reach agreement on penalizing Russia for its treatment of Alexei Navalny, some observers have urged the Baltic states to take the initiative with enforcing sanctions as an example to the rest of Europe.

A precedent was established when the Baltic states were the first to level sanctions against Belarus, when Alexander Lukashenko refused to yield power after orchestrating a fraudulent election.

According to Baltic foreign policy experts, for them to have maximum effect, the sanctions should be targeted against the Russian business elite and and top officialdom, the friends and decision makers closest to Vladimir Putin. It’s expected that this would cause sufficient financial pain and complaints to the Kremlin would be shrill and insistent. Punishing mid-level bureaucratic order-takers wouldn’t produce the intended results.

It was at the end of 2020 that the European Union affirmed the regulations governing the use of sanctions in reacting to general human rights violations. Many insist that the gross violations involving Navalny is more than sufficient to act immediately.

Laas Leivat, Toronto

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