Yulia Navalnaya calls on EU to crack down on Putin’s ‘organised crime gang’

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, addressed the European Parliament on Wednesday calling on Europe to investigate “Putin’s mafia associates” who, she said, were helping him evade sanctions.

“You cannot hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions that is no different to the previous one,” Navalnaya said in her speech, adding that expecting Putin to be “a man of principle” was bound to end in failure.

Navalnaya said, stressing that instead of “statements of concern”, the EU should focus on those around Putin, and the “keepers of mafia money”.

To successfully fight Putin’s “organised crime gang”, the EU should cooperate with anti-war Russians, Navalnaya said. “There are tens of millions of Russians who are against the war, against Putin, against the evil he brings.”

“Putin must answer for what he has done to my country. Putin must answer for what he has done to a peaceful neighbour. And Putin must answer for everything he has done to Alexey,” Navalnaya concluded.