EU imposes sanctions on Russian individuals, entity over Navalny

BRUSSELS -- The European Council on Thursday imposed sanctions against six Russian individuals and one Russian entity allegedly involved in the "assassination attempt" on Russian oppositionist Alexei Navalny.

The six Russians, including Andrei Yarin, chief of the Presidential Domestic Policy Directorate in the Presidential Executive Office, are subject to travel ban and asset freeze.

The sanctioned entity, State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology, is subject to asset freeze, according to a European Union (EU) press release.

The decision followed the political agreement reached by the foreign ministers of the 27 EU member states on Monday.

Navalny became unwell on a flight from the Russian city of Tomsk to Moscow on Aug 20, with the plane making an emergency landing in the city of Omsk.

He reportedly fell into a coma after being hospitalized in Omsk and was later transferred to Germany for treatment.

On Oct 8, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin was quoted by TASS news agency as saying that no poisonous substances were found in Navalny's body when he was on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Naryshkin dismissed the allegation made by Navalny that he was poisoned by Russian special services, calling it "Russophobic propaganda."