As expected on Tuesday shortly after the European Union announced sanctions against top Russian officials accused in connection to the Navalny case, the United States rolled out with its own sanctions in a coordinated effort.
“Today, as part of a robust inter-agency response to the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the Treasury Department is designating seven senior members of the Russian government,” the Biden administration announced Tuesday afternoon.
In particular the US Treasury penalties target seven Russian government officials who stand broadly accused of orchestrating the alleged ‘nerve agent poisoning’ of anti-Kremlin activist Alexei Navalny, who since his return to Russia from Germany has been sentenced by a Moscow court to 2.5 years in prison stemming from a prior embezzlement case.
“We join the EU in condemning Alexei Navalny’s poisoning as well as his arrest and imprisonment by the Russian government,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated.
Russia is further banned from receiving any financial assistance from any and all US departments or agencies for a minimum of one year. An official State Department press release highlighted Russia’s bio-chemical weapons program in relation to Navalny:
“Today, the Secretary of State determined that the government of the Russian Federation has used a chemical weapon against its own nationals“, the release said. “As a result, the following sanctions will be imposed: Denial to Russia of any credit, credit guarantees, or other financial assistance by any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States government, including the Export-Import Bank of the United States.”
And according to further details:
Senior administration officials, speaking to reporters on a conference call, said the sanctions also include export controls on 14 parties — nine Russian, three German and one Swiss, and three Russian government research institutes, most of which are believed to be involved in the production of chemical and biological agents.
Today, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia for attempting to assassinate Aleksey Navalny with a novichok nerve agent. Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable. We stand with our EU and UK partners to counter Russia’s actions and in calling for Mr. Navalny’s release.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 2, 2021
Reuters lists the following officials targeted: “Among those blacklisted by the Treasury were Andrei Yarin, the chief of the Kremlin’s domestic policy directorate; Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB); and deputy ministers of defense Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov, among others, according to a statement.”
The EU sanctions similarly targeted “high profile individuals” – which includes travel bans against select Russian security officials and the freezing of their assets held in Europe.
Meanwhile, the State Department suggested there’s more penalties to come…
What was announced today certainly not the totality of US action against #Russia for its human rights abuses, says @StateDeptSpox. pic.twitter.com/wVGQg4fLte
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) March 2, 2021
