EU blacklists Belarusian-born cosmonaut for “legitimizing war” by running in Russia’s recent elections

October 12, Pozirk. The European Union has placed Belarusian-born cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky (Aleh Navicki), who has recently been elected as a member of Russia’s State Duma, on its list of individuals subject to the EU’s travel bans and asset freezes.

On October 12, the Council of the EU approved its 22nd package of sanctions against Russia, targeting 820 individuals and 826 legal entities, the single largest expansion of the sanctions list since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The blacklisted individuals include 74 parliamentary candidates and three members of Russia’s central election commission.

In its Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2292, the Council condemns last month’s elections as “illegal,” noting that they were held in Ukraine’s occupied territories. “By participating formally as a candidate in these illegal elections, Oleg Novitsky has actively contributed to efforts to legitimize Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to sustain Russia’s illegal occupation of territories of Ukraine,” the Council says.

Therefore, Novitsky is “supporting and implementing actions and policies that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” the document says.

The Council adds that Novitsky is associated with Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which is listed by the Union for “supporting materially actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

Novitsky was born in the town of Červień, Minsk region, in 1961. In 1988, he enrolled in a military school in Borisoglebsk, Voronezh province, and has lived in Russia ever since, serving with the Russian Air Force and later becoming a cosmonaut.

Novitsky has flown three long missions to the International Space Station between 2012 and 2021. His most recent flight was the Soyuz MS 25 mission in 2024 together with NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson and Belavia flight attendant Maryna Vasileŭskaja.

In April 2024, Vasileŭskaja was awarded the title of Hero of Belarus as the country’s “first cosmonaut since independence” despite the fact that she had spent only 13 days in space. In July 2025, Novitsky and the 34-year-old Vasileŭskaja got married.