Notorious Russian MP Zhirinovsky misidentified in EU sanctions documents

The EU has indeed imposed a travel ban and asset freeze sanctions on a Vladimir Zhirinovsky, but not the one they were intended for.

The EU blacklist includes Vladimir Zhirinovsky born on 10 June 1964. Meanwhile MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the member of the Council of the Russian Federation Duma, was born on 25 April 1946 and is not on the EU list.

A reader of DELFI, Vygintas, has noticed several discrepancies in the official EU gazette which published the expanded list of Russian individuals targeted by the new round of sanctions. One of them is Zhirinovsky’s date of birth: 10 June 1964. The notorious Russian MP, while rather fit, has long passed 50. He was born on 25 April 1946.

There are other discrepancies in the EU document, too. “The former surname of this man [Russian MP Zhirinovsky] is Eidelstein, but in the official document, this word is made into a town in Kazakhstan, supposedly his place of birth,” Vygintas claims in his letter to DELFI.

He adds that due to these errors Zhinirnovsky might escape EU sanctions. “We should not be surprised if we meet Vladimir Volfovich skiing in some French resort… And there is no chance of tracking his bank accounts with such details.”

One more error was made in the Russian spelling of Zhirinovsky’s last name: Жириновски instead of Жириновский.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later informed that diplomats had spotted the errors in Zhirinovsky’s personal details and notified colleagues in Brussels.

“Lithuania has spotted inaccuracies in the EU Council decision on restrictive measures for Zhirinovsky and on 15 September notified EU institutions about it,” according to the Ministry’s statement to DELFI.

The Ministry has assured that EU sanctions will apply to the Russian MP who can be identified by other details.