European Union updates 4 sanctions lists

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – Foreign ministers of the European Union agreed Monday to update four separate sanctions lists, imposing new penalties over terrorism and acts undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity as well as human rights violations in Myanmar and Syria, the Council of the European Union announced.

The EU added five more people to its sanction framework targeting those responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and integrity.

The new entries were involved in Russian State Duma elections in the illegally-annexed Crimea last year. Three of them were elected as Duma representatives, while the other two led the electoral committee.

With the update, the bloc applied asset freezes and travel bans on 193 people and prohibited financial services to a further 48 entities over the illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The EU has been applying restrictive measures in response to the Ukrainian crisis since 2014.

- New additions to Syria, terrorism blacklist

The EU foreign ministers also approved imposing travel bans and asset freezes on five members of the Makhlouf family, which is closely associated with the Syrian regime and the Assad family.

The decision said the move is an attempt to prevent the family members of businessman Mohammed Makhlouf, who was blacklisted by the EU from 2011 until his death in 2020, from using his assets they inherited to continue to support the activities of the Syrian regime, “potentially contributing to the regime’s violent repression of the civilian population.”

The EU’s Syria blacklist features in total 292 people and 70 entities.

In a separate decision, the ministers also added two people and two groups linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS operating in Afghanistan and the neighboring region to its terrorist list.

The sanctions target Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent and its leader Osama Mahmood as well as Aziz Azam, the spokesman of Daesh/ISIS-K and Daesh/ISIS-Hind Province.

-Sanctions against military junta in Myanmar

With another decision, the EU also imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and four entities from Myanmar, including ministers and high-ranking military officials

The new measures bring the total number of Burmese individuals blacklisted by the EU to 65 who need to face travel bans and asset freezes for undermining democracy in Myanmar and violating human rights.

The blacklist also bans EU operators from making funds available to 10 economic entities, complementing an embargo on arms and military equipment as well as communications technology and other goods.

The military junta seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and using brutal methods to crack down on mass protests against the coup across the country.