Czech Republic insists on adding new names to the EU sanctions list

The European Union is preparing the 12th package of anti-russian sanctions to be adopted by the end of the year. 

According to David Konetsky, a senior official at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Czech Republic insists on including 6 individuals from its national sanctions list in the EU sanctions list.

Currently, the national sanctions list includes Patriarch Kirill of moscow, russian businessman Vladimir Yevtushenkov and his son Felix, russian arms dealer Boris Obnosov, his daughter Olga and her husband Rostislav Zorikov. They are banned from entering the Czech Republic and all their assets are frozen.

If their names are added to the EU sanctions list, these restrictions will be applied to them throughout the 27 countries. 

Hungary has in the past opposed the imposition of sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, who supports russia's invasion of Ukraine. That is why the EU removed him from the draft of one of the previous sanctions packages in order to make it pass.

Although the final place of the Czech list in the EU sanctions list is still unclear, it is very likely that the new sanctions will affect russian diamond exports. Its inclusion in the draft 12th package has already been announced by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Source: Český rozhlas