The leader of the Night Wolves biker club, Aleksandr Zaldostanov, Moscow Mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, as well as a popular Russian actor, Sergey Bezrukov, are among the 48 individuals targeted by the latest EU anti-Russian sanctions, as reported by multiple outlets citing a draft sanctions list.
Zaldostanov, 69, was singled out by the EU for “actively supporting Russian state propaganda and calling for the “denazification” and the “de-Ukrainization” of the country, as EUObserver cites the document.
Founded by Zaldostanov and a number of associates soon after the collapse of the USSR, the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club has grown into something of a patriotic movement. The club has held numerous rides in support of traditional values. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has personally participated in some of the club’s rides.
Asspecified, Zaldostanov is already on the US and Canada’s sanctions lists for his participation in the events that led to the reunification of Crimea with Russia.
In turn, the actor Bezrukov is claimed as the one spreading “pro-war propaganda,” as the newspaper reports. Sergey Bezrukov has been outspoken supporter of Russia’s operation in Ukraine.
In a post on his VK page, Bezrukov recited “To the Slanderers of Russia,” a patriotic poem by Alexander Pushkin, saying, “It’s one thing when we are solving our problems by ourselves, but when other countries who do not know our history or culture start intervening, that’s a different case.”
Picture: The translation of the poem by Pushkin
Most of the individuals targeted by new sanctions are Russian military commanders and politicians, including Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. The draft document also lists a number of Ukrainian nationals appointed by Russia to various government positions in the territories it controls. There are also relatives of Russian oligarchs who have already been slapped with restrictions. One of them is Pavel Ezubov, a cousin of tycoon Oleg Deripaska, who is reportedly involved in ownership of Deripaska’s properties in France, Washington DC and Austria.
Ru-Main, 20.07.2022
Source: RT
