EU sanctions Skripal suspects, Russia calls move groundless
The Russian intelligence officers are the first names on a new EU sanctions list aimed at punishing chemical weapons attacks
Brussels/Moscow — The EU sanctioned on Monday the heads of Russia’s military intelligence and two of their officers blamed for poisoning a former Russian double agent in Britain last year, a decision Moscow dismissed as groundless. The EU travel bans and asset freezes included two men Britain has named as intelligence officers Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov and accused of attempting to murder Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The men have denied any involvement in the spraying of a chemical weapon on Skripal’s front door in the English city of Salisbury in March. In a case that has widened Russia’s distancing from the West in recent years, the European bloc also sanctioned the head and deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU). Their names will be published on Tuesday in the EU’s Official Journal, when the sanctions come into force. “These designations include the two GRU officials, and the head and deputy head of the GRU responsible for possession, trans...
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