Syrian opposition calls on Europe to punish Russian companies

The Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said on Monday that the European Union should impose sanctions on Russian companies that support the war in Syria, as it did in the Ukraine crisis.

Member of the HNC negotiating team, Basma Kodmani, told Reuters that the opposition is looking for more specific sanctions against the companies involved in the shipment of weapons as well as the companies involved in indiscriminate bombing.

After her meeting with the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and government officials in Brussels, Kodmani said that the sanctions are a European Union policy in other situations, especially in the Ukrainian crisis.

“Sanctions have been part of EU policy in other situations, certainly in the Ukraine crisis, the EU has made those decisions, has implemented them, has renewed them. We don’t see how the EU can still consider Syria of lesser importance than Ukraine,” she said.