Monday

4th Dec 2023

Russia blacklist of EU names 'unjustified'

  • Harms, an MEP, was turned back at Moscow's Sheremyetovo airport last September (Photo: SuperJet International)

Polish, Baltic state, and Nordic politicians feature heavily on a Russia travel ban list, which has emerged as a new irritant in relations.

The “stop” list of 89 names was circulated by Russia to EU foreign ministries last week and leaked to Finnish broadcaster Yle.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Some people made fun of the affair.

“It means we're doing a good job”, former Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg (listed) said, calling the register “a very decent club”.

Others took it more seriously.

German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not listed) said: “At a time when we’re trying to defuse a bitter and dangerous conflict in the heart of Europe, this doesn’t help”.

Polish centre-right MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (listed), said “it would be good if people on the Russian list are protected by Polish counter-intelligence services”.

The measure targets friends of the Russian opposition and of Ukraine.

It names almost 30 MEPs and former MEPs, including the leader of the Liberal group, Guy Verhofstadt, and former European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek.

It includes: EU Council secretary general, German official Uwe Corsepius; former British deputy-PM Nick Clegg; and several UK security chiefs.

It also names: former EU commissioner Stefan Fuele; French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy; and Anna Maria Corazza

Bildt, a Swedish politician who's married to Carl Bildt, a former Swedish minister and a Russia hawk.

The list is not new as such.

Russia, last September, stopped German MEP Rebecca Harms from going to Moscow for the trial of Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian airforce pilot.

It imposed the list in reaction to EU sanctions, which target Russian banks and energy firms and which blacklist 151 Russian and pro-Russian individuals.

Tass, a Kremlin mouthpiece, on Sunday (30 May), described the EU criticism and the Yle leak as a “political show”.

A “high-ranking” Russian official told the news agency the Russian list was created "as a response to a sanctions campaign unleashed against Russia by some German-led countries of the European Union”.

Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, in January told EUobserver the list targets people “who directly contributed or keep contributing to undermining Russia-EU relations”.

He added: “Unlike the European Union we don’t [publicly] disclose the names of people on the list because we don’t have a legal basis for that”.

For its part, the EU foreign service said on Saturday: "We don't have any … information on [the] legal basis, criteria and process of this [Russian] decision. We consider this measure as totally arbitrary and unjustified, especially in the absence of any further clarification”.

The EU blacklist, by contrast, is made public in its Official Gazette.

It gives a brief reason for each person’s listing, saying he or she, for instance, “actively supported actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity … of Ukraine”.

It also sends individuals longer, private “statements of reasoning”, so they can challenge the decision at the EU court in Luxembourg.

EU to blacklist five Russians

EU diplomats have agreed to list a Russian deputy defence minister, two officials and two MPs over the recent escalation in Ukraine.

Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog

Russia lost its seat on the board of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for the first time in the organisation's history — while Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania were elected to the executive council.

Opinion

'Loss and Damage' reparations still hang in balance at COP28

There is still work to be done — especially when it comes to guaranteeing the Global North's participation in financing Loss and Damage, and ensuring the Global South has representation and oversight on the World Bank's board.

Latest News

  1. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  2. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  3. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  4. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  5. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat
  6. Migrant return bill 'obstructed' as EU states mull new position
  7. Paris and Berlin key to including rape in gender-violence directive
  8. What are the big money debates at COP28 UN climate summit?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us