DISINFO: Sanctions against China and Russia are illegitimate
SUMMARY
The sanctions some states levy on Russia and China are illegitimate; these often breach the norms of multilateral international trade laws.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative labelling nearly all Western sanctions as illegitimate.
EU sanctions are legitimate restrictions imposed in accordance with international and European law as a response to violations of international legalities, such as Russia’s actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, Russia’s use of chemical weapons in an assassination attempt against opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his unlawful imprisonment, and repression against Russian demonstrators (see formal notice), or China’s large scale arbitrary detentions of Uyghurs (see formal notice).
Through restrictive measures, the EU intervenes where appropriate to respond to emerging or current crises. EU sanctions are carefully targeted and designed to be proportionate to the objectives they seek to achieve. Moscow has falsely claimed that the EU sanctions are illegal ever since their imposition in 2014, following Russia's invasion, annexation, and ongoing occupation of Crimea.
See similar cases claiming that the EU adopts sanctions against Belarus to manage its own internal contradictions, that Western sanctions are illegal and hostile actions, and that EU sanctions on Russia are absurd.