The EU introduced sanctions against those accused of sexualized violence for the first time. Among them are the Russian military who invaded Ukraine

Before March 8, the European Union imposed sanctions on nine individuals and three organizations that, according to European authorities, are involved in the violation of women's rights in different countries. This was reported on the website of the European Commission.

According to Reuters, this is the first EU sanctions package against those accused of sexualized violence.

Four Russians were included in the sanctions list . Two of them are Major General Nikolai Kuznetsov, commander of a separate operational division named after Dzerzhinsky as part of the Russian Guard, and Colonel Ramil Ibatullin, former commander of the 90th Guards Tank Division. According to the EU, military units under their command committed sexualized violence in Ukraine in March and April 2022.

“Ukrainian authorities charged several servicemen of the 90th Guards Tank Division with sexualized and gender-based violence, including the rape of a pregnant woman near Kiev, the murder of a civilian after repeatedly raping his wife in the presence of a young child, as well as the participation of members of this unit in gang rapes,” states the Official Journal of the EU.

Also, two Russian police officers, officers Ivan Ryabov and Alexander Fedorinov, were sanctioned. Ryabov was accused of torturing femactivist Alexandra Kaluzhskikh and other women detained at an anti-war rally in March 2022 in the Brateevo police station. Fedorinov was called the acting head of this police department.

In addition to the Russians, the sanctions list includes members of the Afghan government from the Taliban movement, officials from Myanmar and South Sudan, as well as the Karchak Women's Prison in Iran, the Syrian Republican Guard and the Office of the Chief of the Military Security Department of Myanmar.