“The individuals listed today are scientists and researchers within the military sphere,” the message said.
“Some of them have worked for the Signal Scientific Centre (also known as SC Signal), where they researched and published articles on the synthesis of epibatidine, thereby being involved in its development as a chemical weapon.”
Named in the statement were Igor Babkin, head of the Signal laboratory; Irina Derevyagina, a chemical research analyst at the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology. The institute, the council said, is a “central part of the Russian Chemical Weapons program.”
The EU noted that, so far, sanctions for the use and proliferation of chemical weapons apply to 31 individuals and six organizations. The new measures freeze the assets of the listed individuals in the EU, prohibit providing them with financial or economic resources, and ban their entry into EU countries.
The statement reiterated the EU’s commitment to countering
the spread and use of chemical weapons and to upholding the Chemical Weapons
Convention.