EU sanctions six Putin allies over the poisoning of critic Navalny

The European Union blacklisted six people in Russia allied to President Vladimir Putin as punishment for the attempted murder of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

The targets of the EU asset freezes and travel bans imposed on Thursday include Aleksandr Bortnikov, leader of Russia’s domestic spy agency; Sergei Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff in the presidential administration; and Andrei Yarin, head of the presidential administration’s domestic policy directorate.

The 27-nation bloc also froze the assets of one Russian entity: the State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, condemned the EU move as a “deliberately unfriendly step” that