Members of the State Duma commented on the inclusion of ”GRU officers“ in the EU sanctions list

Leonid Slutskiy, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs, said that the new sanctions of the European Union "named after Petrov and Boshirov" are absolutely illegal and do not fit any logic. Adalbi Shkhagoshev, a member of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control, believes that "the EU continues to use high offices and famous names so that anti-Russian sanctions remain in the top news headlines"
GD

”The new sanctions of the European Union ‘named after Petrov and Boshirov’ are absolutely illegal and do not fit any logic. The principle of ‘highly likely’ is again taken for granted. And it is, of course, regrettable,“ said Leonid Slutskiy Slutsky Leonid Eduardovich Slutsky
Leonid Eduardovich
.

He stressed that no strong evidence of the involvement of anyone from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, ”that the West continues to call GRU“ in the incident in Salisbury has not yet been presented by anyone. ”However, we have already witnessed both the largest diplomatic scandal due to Skripal case and the expansion of the anti-Russian sanctions package ‘for the use of chemical weapons’. At the same time, for some reason no one took into account that our country not only destroyed all chemical weapons stocks back in 2017 but also showed this to the international community,“ the member of the State Duma said and noted that ”I would say that unsubstantiated accusations of Russia are just the height of hypocrisy.“

”By introducing new sanctions from the notorious Euro-Atlantic solidarity, the European Union takes the dead-end road. This will not help Mrs. [Theresa] May to divert attention from the difficult domestic political situation and difficulties with Brexit, and this cannot work as a tool for deterring Russia. For all the years of sanctions pressure, we were able to develop a stable immunity to this kind of restriction,“ said Leonid Slutskiy.

”The EU continues to use high offices and famous names so that anti-Russian sanctions remain in the top news headlines. They act in accordance with the famous English principle: when one lies, one should lie big,“ said Adalbi Shkhagoshev Shkhagoshev Adalby Lyulevich Shkhagoshev
Adalby Lyulevich
, a member of the Committee on Security and Corruption Control.

Today, the EU for the first time introduced sanctions under the new regime on chemical weapons. The head and deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GU, former GRU) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were placed under sanctions regime because of the Skripal case, the EU Council said in a statement spread in Brussels on Monday.