Date: Jan 22, 2019 Source: The Daily Star EU slaps sanctions on Russians, Syrian center BRUSSELS: The European Union imposed sanctions on Russians blamed for a nerve agent attack in Britain and a Syrian research center as the bloc steps up its action against the use of chemical weapons. EU foreign ministers Monday slapped travel bans and asset freezes on nine people and on Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center. Five of those targeted are linked to the Syrian center’s activities, including Col. Tariq Yasmina, SSRC head Khaled Nasri, Walid Zughaid, Col. Firas Ahmed and Said Said. Yasmina is alleged to be the liaison between the SSRC and Assad’s palace, and the others are said to be senior weapons development and production personnel. The four Russians on the list are the two men who were accused of planting the nerve agent in Salisbury last March in a failed attempt to assassinate a defector, and their superiors, the head and deputy head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence unit. The agents are accused of traveling under the pseudonyms Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, but the sanctions order confirms reports that identify them as Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, both 39 years old. These identities had previously been revealed by the British-based Bellingcat investigative group, which pieced together evidence from leaks and online data trails to find two decorated GRU field officers. Their listing was expected, but the decision to target the GRU leadership - identified as agency chief Igor Kostyukov and his first deputy Vladimir Alekseyev - ups the stakes in the dispute. “This decision contributes to the EU’s efforts to counter the proliferation and use of chemical weapons, which poses a serious threat to international security,” a statement announced after EU foreign ministers met. “I’m confident member states took the decision on a very strong legal basis,” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said, stressing that the measure would “resist the tests of the courts.” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt welcomed the decision, the first of its kind under a new EU sanctions regime focused on halting the use and spread of banned chemical weapons. “Today’s new sanctions deliver on our vow to take tough action against the reckless and irresponsible activities of the Russian military intelligence organization, the GRU,” he said. Russian agents have been blamed for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city in March last year using the Soviet-developed nerve agent Novichok. Moscow denies involvement in the poisoning and has offered numerous and varied alternative explanations and counteraccusations. In response to the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that Moscow reserved “the right to take retaliatory measures over this unfriendly step.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had earlier brushed aside reports that “Petrov” and “Boshirov” would be targeted. “They are under suspicion for no good reason,” he said, insisting that the images published by British authorities of the pair visiting the U.K. at the time of the attack did not prove anything. The Salisbury attack, the first offensive use of chemical weapons in Europe since World War II, caused an international outcry and prompted a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by a number of Western nations.