DISINFO: Illegal EU sanctions hinder Syria's ability to fight COVID19
SUMMARY
The European Union lost the independence of its decisions and is relying on American policies in a humiliating way.
The EU bears primary responsibility for the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of unjust sanctions that affect them directly impeding efforts to provide the means, capabilities and medical infrastructure necessary to face the coronavirus pandemic.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Europe as a vassal of the USA and trying to change the nature of sanctions implemented on Syria.
EU sanctions on Syria are targeted at individuals and entities who ordered or carried out attacks and torture against their own people, made or used chemical weapons, built their personal fortune thanks to the war. EU sanctions are designed in a way that only targets these people and these activities, avoiding any negative impact on the population. There is no economic war on Syria or the Syrian people.
See here a European External Action Service explanatory video on Syrian sanctions.
EU sanctions have been imposed since 9 May 2011 to respond to the repression perpetrated on the Syrian people the Syrian regime and its supporters.
EU sanctions are not impeding Syria’s medical response to Covid-19. They do not concern medicines, medical equipment or medical assistance provided to the population at large, and they do not prohibit the export to Syria of respirators, disinfectants, hand sanitizers or detergents used to respond to Covid-19.
The European Commission published a guidance note on EU sanctions in Syria clarifying once again how Coronavirus-related humanitarian aid can be sent to Syria.
Similar disinformation narratives claim that EU and NATO member states are subordinate to the US, while the US has long regarded the EU as a kind of protectorate, and that lined up with the US, the EU never took independent decisions.