DISINFO: Sanctions on Russia a pre-arranged scenario
SUMMARY
The sanctions were announced on both sides of the Atlantic, not only on the same day, but at the same time. In other words, it was, of course, a scenario-based move.
RESPONSE
A disinformation narrative claiming that the US and EU conspired in advance to place sanctions against Russia based on a pre-arranged scenario. The sanctions were, in fact, imposed in re-action to the poisoning and arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
In its statement, the U.S. Department of State said:
The U.S. government has exercised its authorities to send a clear signal that Russia’s use of chemical weapons and abuse of human rights have severe consequences. Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and contravenes international norms.
The United States has consistently characterized the legal offensive against Mr. Navalny as politically motivated, an assessment shared by our G7 partners and the European Court of Human Rights. We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny.
The statement from the EU is as follows:
The Council today imposed restrictive measures against six individuals and one entity involved in the assassination attempt on Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned with a toxic nerve agent of the “Novichok” group on 20 August 2020 in Russia.
The decision follows the political agreement reached by the Foreign Affairs Council on 12 October 2020.
The adopted restrictive measures consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for individuals, and an asset freeze for the entity. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds available to those listed.
The designation of the six persons and one entity linked to the Navalny case took place in the framework of the restrictive measures against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons.
An independent investigation by Bellingcat and its partners confirmed that the poison attack was organised by the FSB even identifying the agents involved in the attack. Additionally, Alexei Navalny duped an FSB agent into revealing details of the operation against him. The agent admitted that Navalny was poisoned by FSB. The agent said an attacker had placed the poison along the inner seams of a pair of Navalny's underwear.
See more disinformation about the sanctions against Russia such as Europe made up a strange story about Navalny being poisoned as pretext for sanctions and the EU lost more from sanctions than Russia.