EU imposes sanctions against six Russian individuals involved in the development of chemical weapons

EU Council adopted Council Decision (CFSP) 2026/1542 imposing asset freezing sanctions against six Russian individuals, scientists and researchers within the military sphere, several affiliated with the Signal Scientific Centre (SC Signal), Russia's State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT), and the Military Academy for Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence, targeting their role in researching, synthesizing, and testing epibatidine, the toxin found in Alexei Navalny's body after his February 2024 death in a Russian penal colony, which was assessed as highly likely to have caused his death. This brings the total under the EU's chemical weapons sanctions regime to 31 individuals and 6 entities.