LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal will implement restrictive measures against Russian oligarchs agreed at European Union level even if those sanctioned by the bloc are Portuguese citizens, foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Tuesday.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was granted Portuguese citizenship in April 2021 based on a law offering naturalisation to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian peninsula during the mediaeval Inquisition.
Abramovich is among several Russian billionaires expected to be added to an EU blacklist on Tuesday. He became a target of British sanctions last week.
“These sanctions are supported by Portuguese authorities and (will be) scrupulously enforced,” Santos Silva told parliament. “This has been happening whether those sanctioned had applied for investment residence permits or if they are Portuguese citizens.”
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Sérgio Gonçalves and Patricia Rua; Editing by Edmund Blair)
