The Council of the European Union announced its addition of four recently-appointed ministers to the list of persons and entities subject to targeted EU restrictive measures in view of the situation in Syria.
These sanctions include the ministers for internal trade, information and labor.
The four ministers were accused of sharing “responsibility for the Assad regime’s violent repression of the civilian population,” the EU said.
With recent additions to the sanction list, the number of persons targeted by a travel ban and an asset freeze has reached 287. The list also includes 70 entities, which are subject to an asset freeze.
The sanctions currently in place against the Assad regime were introduced in 2011, in response to its violent repression of the Syrian population. They target companies and prominent businesspeople benefitting from their ties to the regime and the war economy.
Restrictive measures also include a ban on the import of oil, restrictions on certain investments, a freeze of the central bank’s assets that are held in the EU, and export restrictions on equipment and technology that could be used for internal repression and on equipment and technology for the monitoring or interception of internet or telephone communications.
The EU sanctions are designed to put pressure on the Assad regime to halt repression and negotiate a lasting political settlement of the Syrian crisis in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Sanctions on Syria remain under constant review, according to the Council’s news site.
